Experimental investigation of the mass transfer coefficients of metals in stainless steel crude alloy from mixed low-grade chromite and nickel laterite ores

The processing of liquid steel uses a very high temperature. The reaction between the liquid steel and the slag generates liquid-liquid mass transfer of the species involved. The mass transfer coefficients of the metals present in the stainless steel crude alloy were the central point of this study. The study in particular aimed to estimate the liquid-liquid mass transport coefficients of the species involved in this very important process. These were evaluated using the experimental results obtained from direct smelting of mixed low-grade chromite and nickel laterite ores. In this investigation, the kinetics of slag-metal reactions was stimulated by metal phase control mechanism and slag phase control mechanism. Results obtained from the experiments showed that the metal phase control was the dominating mechanism in the study as seen from the degree of fit of the experimental data to such mechanism. © 2020 School of Science, IHU.