GENERATION OF ULTRAFINE IRON POWDERS BY GAS-PHASE REDUCTION OF FERROUS CHLORIDE WITH HYDROGEN

Experiments have been made on the generation of ultrafine iron powders by a gas-phase reduction of ferrous chloride with hydrogen. The effects of the preheating temperature of reactant gases, the configuration of the reactant-gas mixing nozzle, and the partial pressure of ferrous chloride vapor on the particle size of generated iron powder were studied using a quartz reactor of 3.5 cm in diameter and 150 cm in length. Even for the laboratory-scale reactor, the configuration of the mixing nozzle had a great effect on the particle size distribution. The preheating temperature was also found to have a significant effect on the particle size. The particle size increased with an increase of the partial pressure: an improved method of controlling the partial pressure was used in this work.