Study of Mineralogy and Metallurgical Properties of Lump Ores

Abstract

The ironmaking process in blast furnaces using iron lumps is an energy-efficient and low-carbon initiative that helps lower the cost of the ironmaking process. The physical and chemical properties of raw materials, process mineralogy, and metallurgical properties of three Malaysian iron ore lumps were researched in this paper, with the goal of showing the relationship between metallurgical qualities and mineralogy. The results show that lump ore A has a better decrepitation index, with a DI−6.3mm of only 0.2%; lump ore J has better reducibility and low-temperature reduction disintegration index, with RI and RDI+6.3mm values of 88.39% and 87.55%, respectively; and the three lump ores have excellent softening and melting properties and a high permeability index. The metallurgical properties of lump ore and mineralogical characterizations are generally correlated, the decrepitation performance of lump ore is mostly determined by the presence of goethite, and the original porosity is unrelated. The higher the content, the worse the decrepitation performance; lump ore’s reducibility is mostly determined by the open porosity and the content of newly generating hematite at high temperatures, which has no relationship to its original porosity. The higher the open porosity, the higher the goethite content, the higher the newly generated porous hematite content, and the better the lump ore’s reducibility; the higher the original hematite content in the lump ores, the lower the open porosity at high temperatures and the worse the reduction degradation characteristics.