Reduction of Solid Fuel Consumption in Sintering of Indian Iron Ore

The present investigation deals with the sinterability of Goa (India) iron ore having high Fe (65.2%) content. The sinter basicity (CaO/SiO2) and its MgO were varied in the 2.0 to 2.5 and 1.5 to 3.0 range. The effect of process variables on the quality parameters of sinter namely, tumbler index (TI), reduction-degradation index (RDI) and reducibility index (RI) as well as the productivity of sinter was studied. The studies have shown that the consumption of coke (C: 74%) was inter-influenced by the sinter basicity and its MgO content. Increasing the solid fuel consumption was not a viable solution to improve TI and RI simultaneously. The content of coke in the mix could be reduced to as low as 4% through 'low temperature sintering' at the balanced return fines recirculation (similar to 33 wt. percent). The sintering indices in terms of productivity of sinter and its quality improve quite significantly at a higher sinter basicity (CaO/SiO2 similar to 2.5) and its lower MgO content (1.5%).