Research on the Quality Improvement and Consumption Reduction of Iron Ore Agglomeration Based on Optimization

Abstract

In order to increase agglomeration production and improve its quality while reducing energy consumption, a new intelligent blending method has been established at Ansteel to optimize its sinter blends. The statistical model of the ore blending results shows that (1) a blending ratio of 47.2% Ore A and 52.8% Ore C corresponded to the best sinter yield of 72.44%. (2) From the viewpoint of sinter reducibility, sinter basicity should not be less than 1.98 when the proportion of Ore A in the blend is more than 35%. Due to the low mixing efficiency of disc pelletizers, Ansteel has therefore gone through a massive technical transformation at Sinter Plant 3 to replace its 16 existing disc pelletizers with one drum granulator. Since the installation of the drum granulator, the standard deviation has decreased from 1.517 to 0.7332 for total Fe (T.Fe) and from 0.146 to 0.0956 for basicity. In the case of the drum granulator, the standard deviation for sinter T.Fe and basicity were 0.6926 and 0.05449, respectively, as compared to 0.8902 and 0.2033 for the disc pelletizers. In addition, a single lattice method is proposed to optimize the particle-size distribution of the coke breeze to further improve sinter quality and reduce fuel consumption. The lattice method indicated that the optimum coke breeze to achieve maximum sinter tumble strength should consist of approximately 57.20%: −1 mm, 25.63%: 1–3 mm, 11.17%: 3–5 mm, and 6.00%: >5 mm particles. Given the international trend of increasing bed depth, Ansteel has successfully achieved a bed height of 1050 mm or more under its blend conditions, which typically contain 75% concentrates. Finally, some new iron ore agglomerations research is discussed.