Validation of FeSiMg Alloy Production Model for the Experimental Process

Abstract

This paper investigates the effect of limestone, bauxite, fluorspar, and quartzite additions on the magnesium recovery in FeSiMg production from dolomite. Also, it illustrates the validation of the previous designed model. According to the model, magnesium content in the product alloy is calculated by the equation [Mg]=(MgO0)[Si0][eKt[(MgO0)-[Si0]]-1]/((MgO0)[eKt[(MgO0)-[Si0]]]-[Si0]), where [Mg] is the concentration of magnesium metal in ferrosilicon magnesium alloy in mol/L, [Si0] and (MgO0) are the initial concentrations of silicon and magnesium oxide in charge in mol/L, t is the time in seconds, and K is the reaction rate constant (3.26588×10-7 LSec−1 mol−1). The results of the production process are compared with the model results. The deviation between the actual and predicted magnesium content decreases as fluorspar, limestone, and quartzite increase up to 12.8wt.%, 8wt.%, and 8wt.%, respectively, with increase in the amount of the additives, the magnesium content in the produced alloy becomes far from the predicted values. It was found also that the addition of bauxite increases the gap between the actual and predicted values of magnesium content. It was found that the deviation of the actual magnesium content from the predicted depends mainly on the viscosity of the slag.