STUDIES ON THE REDUCTION KINETICS OF HEMATITE IRON ORE PELLETS WITH NONCOKING COALS FOR SPONGE IRON PLANTS

In the present investigation, fired pellets were made by mixing hematite iron ore fines of ?100, ?16 + 18, and ?8 + 10 mesh size in different ratios and studies on their reduction kinetics in Lakhanpur, Orient OC-2 and Belpahar coals were carried out at temperatures ranging from 850°C to 1000°C with a view toward promoting the massive utilization of fines in ironmaking. The rate of reduction in all the fired iron ore pellets increased markedly with an increase in temperature up to 1000°C, and it was more intense in the first 30 min. The values of activation energy, calculated from integral and differential approaches, for the reduction of fired pellets (prepared from iron ore fines of ?100 mesh size) in coals were found to be in the range 131–148 and 130–181 kJ mol^?1 (for α = 0.2 to 0.8), indicating the process is controlled by a carbon gasification reaction. The addition of selected larger size particles in the matrix of ?100 mesh size fines up to the extent studied decreased the activation energy and slightly increased the reduction rates of resultant fired pellets. In comparison to coal, the reduction of fired pellets in char was characterized by significantly lower reduction rates and higher activation energy.