Effect of MgO in the form of magnesite on the quality and microstructure of

hematite pellets
Srinivas Dwarapudi
a,
, Tamal K. Ghosh
a
, Vilas Tathavadkar
a
, Mark B. Denys
a
,
D. Bhattacharjee
b
, R. Venugopal
c
a
R&D, Tata Steel Ltd, Jamshedpur, India
b
R&D, Tata Steel Ijmuiden, The Netherlands
c
FME, ISM University, Dhanbad, India
a b s t r a c t a r t i c l e i n f o
Article history:
Received 4 November 2011
Received in revised form 12 June 2012
Accepted 23 June 2012
Available online 5 July 2012
Keywords:
Magnesite
Swelling
RDI
Magnesioferrite
MgO pellets
MgO addition to pellets improves their high temperature properties by improving the oxide and slag phases.
In the present study, effect of MgO, in the form of magnesite ux, on pellet quality, melt formation and mi-
crostructure during the induration was examined. Fired pellets with varying MgO contents (0 to 3.0%)
were tested for cold crushing strength, reduction degradation index, reducibility and swelling characteristics.
Optical microstructural studies with image analysis were carried out to estimate the amount of different
phases. SEMEDS analysis was done to measure the chemical analysis of oxide and slag phases. X-ray map-
ping was also carried out to understand the distribution of CaO, MgO, SiO
2
and Al
2
O
3
in different phases.
From the results, it was observed that with increasing MgO, RDI and swelling characteristics of pellets
were found to be improved. Reducibility of the pellets improved substantially in the range of 0.5 to 1.5%
MgO. Formation of magnesioferrite phase and high melting point slag formed during induration could be at-
tributed to the improved quality of pellets. Pellets with 2 to 3% magnesite addition, to get 1.0 to 1.5% MgO,
exhibited optimum metallurgical properties among all the pellets studied.
2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
Modern blast furnaces essentially need most of the iron bearing bur-
deninthe formof agglomerates, viz., sinter or pellets. Quality of these ag-
glomerates plays a vital role indecreasing the fuel rate andincreasing the
productivity of blast furnace. Quality of pellets, generally, is inuencedby
the nature of ore or concentrate, associated gangue, type and amount of
uxes added and their subsequent treatment to produce the pellets.
These factors inturnresult inthe variationof physicochemical properties
of the coexisting phases and their distribution during pellet induration.
Hence properties of the pellets are largely governed by the formand de-
gree of bonding achieved between ore particles and the stability of these
bonding phases during reduction of iron oxides (Panigraphy et al., 1990).
More attention has been given in recent years to the use of uxed pellets
in blast furnace due to their good strength and improved reducibility,
swelling and softening melting characteristics (Xio-Hui et al., 2010; Li
et al., 2010).
In uxed pellets, the bonding is achieved through silicate melt forma-
tionduring induration. The amount of gangue inthe concentrate, CaOand
MgO in the uxes and the binder inuence the amount and chemistry of
oxide and melt phases. CaOuxes silicate melt as well as reacts with iron
oxide to form different calcium ferrites. MgO either enters the magnetite
lattice to form magnesioferrite or dissolves in the slag phase (Frill and
Erickson, 1980). These melting phases interact with each other and dis-
solve a variable amount of ironoxides. As the formationof phases and mi-
crostructure during induration depends on the type and amount of uxes
added, there is a need to study the effect of these uxing agents on pellet
quality.
Inmost of the integratedsteel works, the burdenmix for blast furnace
is decided as per the availability of the iron ore agglomerates. For blast
furnaces, where super uxed sinter is available with high CaO contents
(~910%), pellets need to be acidic in nature, free fromCaO, to maintain
the blast furnace slag chemistry. But acid pellets are knownfor their poor
high temperature properties like softeningmelting characteristics and
reducibility (Onoda et al., 1980). Earlier studies by sinter and pellet
makers, as mentioned in the following sections, made it clear that MgO
addition helps in improving the high temperature properties. In case of
acid pellets, dolomite cannot be used as the source of MgO, because it
contains substantial amount of CaO. In the present study a magnesium
carbonate mineral called magnesite is used as MgO source. Unlike py-
roxenite, whichis a magnesiumsilicate, magnesite does not contaminate
pellets with silica.
Matsumura et al. studied the effect of sinter composition (CaO, SiO
2
,
Al
2
O
3
, MgO, FeO) on its reducibility and softening melting characteristics;
addition of dolomite to increase the MgO improved the softening
International Journal of Mineral Processing 112113 (2012) 5562
Corresponding author at: R&D, Tata Steel Ltd, Burma Mines Post, Jamshedpur
831007, Jharkhand, India. Tel.: +91 6572148928, +91 9204058889(mobile); fax:
+91 65722717.
E-mail address: srinivasd@tatasteel.com (S. Dwarapudi).
0301-7516/$ see front matter 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.minpro.2012.06.006
Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect
International Journal of Mineral Processing
j our nal homepage: www. el sevi er . com/ l ocat e/ i j mi npr o
property of sinter, as MgO raises the melting temperature of
slag. Reducibility of high MgO sinter was also found to be high; it was
found that calcium ferrite (CF) contained more Si and Mg ions with in-
creasing MgO in sinter. Increasing Si in CF was considered to be the
cause of restricting the undesired silicate formation (Matsumura et al.,
2005).
Yadav et al. established the inuence of MgO on sinter quality. It
was reported that addition of MgO reduces the sinter strength by
forming glassy dicalcium silicate, suppressing calcium ferrite forma-
tion. MgO restricts the melt formation during sintering, resulting in
increased porosity, thereby increasing its reducibility and reduction
degradation. MgO also improves the softeningmelting characteris-
tics (Yadav et al., 2002).
Narita et al. investigatedthe effect of MgOcontent on the permeabil-
ity resistance of iron ore pellets in the softeningmelting zone of blast
furnace. MgOaddition is foundto be effective indecreasing the pressure
drop in cohesive zone; MgO makes a solid solution with wstite called
magnesiowstite of higher melting point (Narita et al., 1977).
Frill and Erickson studied the effect of dolomite additiononthe mag-
netite pellets; pellets with basicity up to 1.3 exhibited less low temper-
ature disintegration, whereas swelling decreased at basicity more than
0.8. Pellets containing 1.5% MgO showed highest reduction characteris-
tics and improved softening characteristics (Frill and Erickson, 1980).
Sugiyama et al. studied the effect of CaO/SiO
2
and MgO/SiO
2
ration
on the pellet quality; MgO addition, in the formof magnesite, resulted
in the formation of magnesioferrite. With increasing MgO porosity
and reducibility increased and swelling decreased. Pellets free from
CaO and MgO/SiO
2
ratio more than 0.6 exhibited improved reducibil-
ity and softening properties, as the MgO increases the melting point
of slag (Sugiyama et al., 1982).
Panigraphy et al. presented the detailed results of limestone and do-
lomite uxed pellets from hematite concentrate. It was reported that
dolomite uxed pellets exhibited higher porosity in comparison to
limestone pellets, as MgO, being a major constituent of dolomite, raises
the liquidus temperature of slag. Strength of dolomite pellets was found
to be lower due to the high amount of porosity. Dolomite addition also
improved the reducibility, highest at 1.3 basicity (Panigraphy et al.,
1990).
Earlier work reported by authors itself, revealed the MgO addition in
the form of pyroxenite reduced the swelling substantially due to the
formation of low FeO slag that can resist reduction stresses (Dwarapudi
et al., 2010).
Bentell et al. reported the effect of MgO/SiO
2
ratio and CaO/SiO
2
ratio
on pellet quality made from magnetite concentrate. Higher MgO/SiO
2
ratio resultedinhighporosity andlowpellet strength. They also reported
that high temperature reducibility increases with MgO/SiO
2
ratio due to
increase in the melting point of the binding phase (Bentell, 1981; Bentell
et al., 1984).
Lingtan et al. reported that the addition of MgO in the formof olivine
to pellets causedmore lowtemperature breakdowndue to the formation
of cracks between the reduced magnetite phase and magnesioferrite spi-
nel. However MgOimproved the high temperature reducibility of pellets
due to less liquid slag formation (Lingtan et al., 1983).
It is important to note that conditions and parameters of pelletizing
are specic to given ore or concentrate; the present study is undertaken
for friable high alumina hematite iron ore nes of Noamundi region in
Singhbhum craton of eastern India. These friable iron ore nes contain
hematite, goethite, quartz and weathered shale as primary minerals.
The alumina is mainly contributed from the shale bands in the form of
kaolinitic saprolite (Beukes et al., 2008). Hematite from such nes
shows variable quantities of impurities like Al and Si which amount
up to 3.05.0% within the hematite mineral structure (Roy and Das,
2008). Except author's earlier work on quality of pellets from Indian
iron ore (Dwarapudi et al., 2010, 2011), there is no considerable litera-
ture reported on the effect of pellet MgO content for this type of hema-
tite ore. In the present study, pellets with varying MgO contents were
tested for cold strength, reduction degradation index, reducibility and
swelling characteristics. Optical microscope studies with image analysis
software were carried out to estimate the amount of different phases.
SEMEDS analysis was done to record the chemical analysis of oxide
and slag phases. X-ray mapping was also carried out to understand
the distribution of CaO, MgO, SiO
2
and Al
2
O
3
in different phases. It
was attempted to establish correlation between pellet chemistry (in
terms of MgO) and quality.
2. Experimental
The following materials were used for preparing the green pellets:
iron ore nes, bentonite, anthracite coal and magnesite. Iron ore nes,
coal and magnesite were ground separately in laboratory ball mill to
get the required neness for pelletizing. The chemistry and particle
size distribution of all the materials used for pelletizing are given in
Table 1
Chemical composition of materials used for pelletizing.
Constituents, wt.% Iron ore Bentonite Magnesite Coal
Fe(t) 66.6 14.2 1.0 0.5
SiO
2
1.5 55.5 4.3 8.0
Al
2
O
3
2.1 17.6 0.4 3.9
CaO 0.2 1.5 6.0 0.2
MgO 0.1 2.9 45.0 0.2
P 0.1 0.0
S 0.0 0.6
LOI 1.1 3.1 49.1 6.7
TiO
2
0.2 1.3 0.1 0.2
Na
2
O 2.4
K
2
O 0.3
Fixed carbon 77.0
Table 2
Particle size distribution of the ground materials used for pelletizing.
Size range (m) Iron ore Bentonite Magnesite Coal
+150 10.8 0.0 12.8 7.7
150+75 13.3 2.2 11.1 28.8
75+63 5.9 97.8 4.9 12.1
63+45 4.1 5.9 15.0
45+37 11.0 8.8 3.0
37+25 4.0 8.3 4.5
25 50.9 48.4 28.9
Table 3
Ingredients of green pellets with varying amounts of magnesite.
Pellet
A
Pellet
B
Pellet
C
Pellet
D
Pellet
E
Pellet
F
Pellet
G
Iron ore, wt.% 97.8 96.9 95.8 94.7 93.5 92.4 91.3
Bentonite, wt.% 0.8 0.8 0.8 0.8 0.7 0.7 0.7
Magnesite, wt.% 0 1.0 2.1 3.2 4.4 5.5 6.6
Coal, wt.% 1.4 1.4 1.3 1.3 1.4 1.4 1.4
Green pellet quality
Drop number 4.6 3.8 4.4 4.4 4.0 2.8 4.6
Green crushing strength,
kg/pellet
1.6 1.8 1.9 1.7 1.5 1.9 1.9
Green pellet moisture,% 7.9 7.4 7.0 8.2 7.6 7.2 7.2
Table 4
Chemical analysis of magnesite pellets with varying MgO contents.
Wt.% Pellet A Pellet B Pellet C Pellet D Pellet E Pellet F Pellet G
Fe(t) 66.0 65.8 65.8 65.4 65.6 65.2 64.4
SiO
2
1.9 1.8 1.8 1.7 1.7 1.7 1.9
Al
2
O
3
2.2 2.2 1.9 1.9 1.8 1.9 2.1
CaO 0.1 0.5 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.3 0.4
MgO 0.1 0.5 0.8 1.3 1.9 2.3 2.9
56 S. Dwarapudi et al. / International Journal of Mineral Processing 112113 (2012) 5562
Tables 1 and 2 respectively. Bentonite is hydrous alumino-silicate,
largely composed of montmorillonite clay mineral. Coal used was an-
thracite with medium volatile matter. Magnesite is a naturally occur-
ring magnesium carbonate mineral (MgCO
3
), found in two different
forms, crystalline and cryptocrystalline. The magnesite used in the pres-
ent work is of cryptocrystalline with off-white color due to the presence
of silica.
Green pellets were prepared using a laboratory balling disc with a di-
ameter of 600 mm, an edge height of 200 mmand a tilting angle of 45 at
27 rpm. During balling, green pellets were screened with 10 mm and
12.5 mm screens to get 1012.5 mm pellets. The amount of ingredients
added for preparing green pellets with varying MgO (Pellets A, B, C, D,
E, F and G) and their quality parameters are shown in Table 3. To adjust
the MgO content of pellets from 0.5 to 3.0%, the amount of magnesite
was varied from 1 to 7% in the green pellets. Before ring, pellets were
driedinthe hot air ovenat 150 Cfor 56 htoensure that all the moisture
is removed.
Firing of the pellets was carried out using electrically heated rotary
hearth furnace (RHF) mentioned elsewhere by the author in their earli-
er work (Dwarapudi et al., 2010). The RHF consists of 5 heating zones
and 1 cooling zone. All the zones were provided with air inlet nozzles
to inject ambient air for creating oxidizing atmosphere during indura-
tion. During ring, air was injected from zone 6 (cooling zone) and
was vented fromthe exhaust hood in zone 1 to ensure hot air circulation
(a) Pellet A
(b) Pellet B
(c) Pellet C (d) Pellet D
(e) Pellet E
(g) Pellet G
(f) Pellet F
Fig. 1. Optical microstructures of red magnesite uxed pellets with varying MgO.
57 S. Dwarapudi et al. / International Journal of Mineral Processing 112113 (2012) 5562
from zone 6 to zone 1 while pellet sample travels from zone 1 to zone 6.
The countercurrent movement between the hot pellets and air facilitates
the complete oxidation of admixed coal in the green pellets. Temperature
proles in each zone were maintained to simulate the ring conditions in
the industrial pellet indurating machine. Temperature in zones 1 and 2
was maintained at 800 C and 1100 C respectively to simulate
preheating, zones 3 and 4 at 1300 C to simulate ring and zones
5 and 6 at 1100 C and 800 C respectively to simulate cooling
zones of indurating machine. Inconel baskets, that can accommo-
date 500 g of pellets, were used for ring the pellets in the RHF.
In each batch 3 kg of pellets was red to generate required number
samples for the test work. Table 4 shows the chemical analysis of
red pellets with varying MgO contents.
2.1. Physical and metallurgical testing of pellets
Fired pellets were tested for their cold compression strength (CCS) as
per ISO 4700 and swelling index as per ISO4698. While reporting CCS,
standard deviation was also measured. Reduction degradation index
(RDI) and reducibility index (RI) were tested as per ISO 46962 and ISO
7215 respectively. For swelling, reducibility and reduction degradation
index, average of two test readings was taken and error bars are added
to the graphs with 90% condence level. For microstructural studies,
CCS and swelling, pellets from each batch were collected from top layer
of Inconel basket as they are exposed to uniformheat fromtop and side-
walls of RHF. Pellets with cracks and irregular shape were avoided as
they experience uneven heat treatment across their cross section.
2.2. Image analysis of pellet microstructures
Image analysis is a technique that is used to provide an objective
measurement of different phases in microstructure. Pellet samples
were cut into half and hot mounted at 175 C temperature and 90 daN
loadfor 14 minusing a conductive resin. Once sample has beenmounted
andpolished, it was placedunder the ZeissAxioplan2microscope for ex-
amination. A black and white CCDdigital camera with a maximumreso-
lution of 756581 pixels mounted behind the lens of the microscope to
capture the light reected fromthe sample. A10eye piece and 20ob-
jective lens on the microscope have been selected for the current study.
At this level of magnication, the viewframe on the sample surface is ap-
proximately 0.70.5 mm.
The signal from the camera was provided to a personal computer
through a gain correction amplier to correct the signal for optimal dis-
play. The computer software used for interpreting the camera signal into
digital image was Axiovision 4.7 Imaging System supplied by Carl Zeiss
Vision. Basically, the digital image captured from the black and white
camera is represented by pixels having 256 shades of grey values i.e.
0 to 255 (Loo and Leung, 2003). The lower range of grey values repre-
sents the pores andthe oxide grains represent higher range values. Adig-
itized black and white photograph was transformed into a segmented
image with the specied range of grey values to different phases. Once
the image has been processed, image analysis tools from the Axiovision
software were used to measure the area fraction and phase density of
different phases in the microstructure.
3. Results
3.1. Quantitative measures of microstructure through image analysis
Fig. 1 shows the optical microstructures of red pellets with varying
MgOcontents. Image analysis studies of these pellets revealed that hema-
tite, magnetite, silicate melt and magnesioferrite are the major phases in
the pellets. Amount of magnesioferrite and silicate melt, which acts as a
bonding phase, was found to be increase with increasing MgO content
of pellets, as shown in Fig. 2. Porosity was found to increase with increas-
ing MgO content, especially at 1.5 to 2.5%, in the pellets. This could be
attributed to the calcination of magnesite, which was added to a source
of MgO, that releases more amount of CO
2
, thereby increasing porosity.
3.2. SEM study with EDS analysis
Fig. 3 shows the SEMimage of Pellets A, C, E and Gwith EDS analysis
of all pellets (A, B C, D, E, F and G). From the results it was evident that
chemistry of iron oxides is uniformin all pellets irrespective of MgObut
chemistry of slag phase is found to be varying with increasing MgOcon-
tent. FeO content of the slag phase decreased considerably with in-
creased MgO as shown in the EDS analysis. The reason for low FeO in
slag was discussed in author's earlier work (Dwarapudi et al., 2010).
X-ray mapping studies of the red pellet samples, as shown in Fig. 4, re-
vealed that MgO from the magnesite was distributed primarily in
magnesioferrite phase.
3.3. Cold compression strength
Cold compression strength (CCS) indicates the ability of pellets to
withstand the load during their storage and handling and the load of
burden material in the reduction furnace. Blast furnace needs pellets
with CCS in the range of 200230 kg/pellet. Pellet strength found to de-
crease withincreasing MgOcontent as showninFig. 5. Pellets upto 2.0%
MgO exhibited required strength values as desired by the blast furnace.
3.4. Swelling index
Swelling index indicates volume change of pellets during reduction.
Higher swelling reduces the strength of pellets after their reduction
thereby causing irregularities in the blast furnace like high resistance
to gas ow, burden hanging and slipping. Maximumallowable swelling
of pellets for blast furnace ranges from14 to 16%. Fig. 6 shows the swell-
ing index of magnesite uxed pellets with varying MgO. Error bars are
shown in the gure with 90% condence level of the test results.
There are three different regions in the swelling curve; regions A and
C where drop in swelling is very high; region B, where drop in swelling
is negligible. Fromthe results it is evident that acid pellets (without any
MgO) exhibited highest swelling among all the pellets. Swelling re-
duced drastically with increasing MgO up to 1.0% (region A) and stabi-
lized thereafter till 2.5% MgO (region B). Pellets with MgO more than
1.0% demonstrated considerably lower swelling tendency as desired
by the blast furnace.
Fig. 2. Image analysis of magnesite uxed red pellets with varying MgO.
58 S. Dwarapudi et al. / International Journal of Mineral Processing 112113 (2012) 5562
3.5. Reduction degradation and reducibility
Reduction degradation index (RDI) of pellets indicates their tenden-
cy to generate nes during reduction. Fromthe results it is evident that
acid pellets exhibited highest RDI, addition of MgO in the form of mag-
nesite decreased the RDI as shown in Fig. 7.
Reducibility of the pellets may be dened as the ease with which the
oxygen combined with the iron oxide can be removed. A higher reduc-
ibility indicates more indirect reduction in the blast furnace resulting in
lower coke rate and high productivity. Results indicated that MgO pel-
lets are more reducible as compared to acid pellets. Up to 1.0% MgO, re-
ducibility increased and decreased thereafter, as shown in Fig. 8.
4. Discussion
4.1. Pellet strength
Fig. 5 above mentioned that CCS of both acid pellets and magnesite
uxed pellets is within the acceptable limit for blast furnace. Acid pellets
exhibited highest strength compared to magnesite pellets in spite of hav-
ing high porosity comparable to the latter. This could be attributed to the
lowamount of lowstrength gangue or slag phase, as shown in the image
analysis, Fig. 2, and more sintering between the hematite grains in the
Pellet
A
Pellet
B
Pellet
C
Pellet
D
Pellet
E
Pellet
F
Pellet
G
Iron Oxide
Fe
2
O
3,
wt% 98.2 98.5 96.5 97.9 97.8 97.5 98.2
Al
2
O
3,
wt% 0.9 1.5 2.2 1.2 1.5 1.7 0.9
SiO
2,
wt% 0.9 0.0 1.3 0.5 0.0 0.4 0.5
Slag
MgO, wt% 0.0 2.7 0.8 0.5 0.7 1.7 2.0
Al
2
O
3,
wt% 2.5 5.8 5.7 5.0 6.2 7.4 9.3
SiO
2,
wt% 67.4 77.3 89.6 91.0 87.0 83.6 81.6
CaO, wt% 0 1.0 0.8 1.0 1.1 1.8 2.3
FeO, wt% 30.2 13.2 3.1 2.5 4.9 5.4 4.8
Mg-
Ferrite
MgO, wt% 0.0 5.3 22.5 21.3 19.6 19.6 20.7
Al
2
O
3,
wt% 0.0 3.2 6.2 3.7 3.7 4.8 4.1
SiO
2,
wt% 0.0 3.4 0.0 0.6 1.5 0.7 0.0
CaO, wt% 0.0 1.6 0.0 0.0 0.7 0.4 0.0
Fe
2
O
3,
wt% 0.0 85.8 71.4 74.4 73.4 73.6 73.7
Fig. 3. SEM image of Pellets A, C, E and G with EDS analysis of all pellets (A, B, C, D, E, F and G).
59 S. Dwarapudi et al. / International Journal of Mineral Processing 112113 (2012) 5562
acid pellets (Dwarapudi et al., 2010). Addition of magnesite resulted in
the formation of magnesioferrite and low strength silicate melt phase,
thereby reducing the strength.
4.2. Swelling behavior
Volumetric expansion of iron ore pellets takes place during their re-
ductionfromhematite to magnetite and wstite. It canbe mainly attrib-
uted to the increased volume requirements for the anisotropic growth
of magnetite (111) planes parallel to the hematite (0001) planes
(Frazer et al., 1975). Swelling is related to the ability of gangue or slag
phase to withstand the reduction stresses of independent oxide parti-
cles. High melting point slag would produce sufcient bonding strength
to limit swelling and low melting point slag enhances swelling. As
shown in Fig. 6, acid pellets (0% MgO content) exhibited highest swell-
ing as comparedto magnesite pellets. In acidpellets reduction is accom-
panied by the reaction between Fe
2+
and SiO
2
to form low melting
point phase, fayalite (Fe
2
SiO
4
) that melts at 1175 C (Dwarapudi et al.,
2010). High swelling index of these pellets can be attributed to the plas-
tic or mobile nature of low melting point fayalitic slag that provides a
mediumfor absorption of the reduction stresses by increased distances
between the particles.
Addition of MgO to pellets increases the melting point of the slag or
silicate melt formed between the oxide particles (Onoda et al., 1980).
Considerable drop in swelling of magnesite pellets up to 1.0% MgOcon-
tent (in region A), Fig. 6, could be because of the formation of high melt-
ing point slag, indicated by its low FeO content as shown in Fig. 3, that
contributes sufcient bond strength to withstand the reduction stress-
es. Melting point of slag in region B is stable, indicated by its uniform
FeO, leading to uniform swelling tendency. In region C, further drop in
swelling could be because of low reducibility of pellets as shown in
Fig. 8, due to the presence of more amount of stable silicate melt and
magnesioferrite phases.
4.3. Reduction degradation and reducibility
Reduction degradation (measured as RDI) of pellets is an undesired
phenomenon that occurs at low temperatures in the upper part of blast
furnace or reduction shaft of any direct reduction unit. The primary
cause of lowtemperature disintegration is due to crystalline transforma-
tion from hexagonal hematite to cubic magnetite accompanied by vol-
ume expansion to an extent of 25% and lattice distortion (Panigraphy
et al., 1984). The anisotropic dimensional change due to the transforma-
tion leads to severe stresses in certain planes, resulting cracks in brittle
Fig. 4. Distribution of Fe, Si, Al, Ca and Mg in red magnesite uxed pellets with 3% MgO (Pellet G).
Fig. 5. Effect of pellet MgO on the cold compression strength of red pellets. Fig. 6. Effect of pellet MgO on the swelling of red pellets.
60 S. Dwarapudi et al. / International Journal of Mineral Processing 112113 (2012) 5562
matrix. The effect is particularly severe in the grain boundaries. It is very
clear that iron oxide in the indurated pellets is mainly in the form of he-
matite; therefore, generation of internal stress, in principle, is unavoid-
able. The disintegration can be reduced by increasing the amount of
stable bonding phases, which are less brittle at lower temperatures,
with homogeneous distribution. Bonding which forms during induration
can be divided into three main groups: ironoxide bonds (hematite, mag-
netite), silicate bonds and local bonds (calcium ferrite, magnesioferrite)
that are close to particular mineral phases. Iron oxide bonds are common
and strong, but they are not stable during reduction due to their phase
change. Unlike iron oxide bonds, silicate bonds remain unaltered during
reduction and they soften and melt later (Niiniskorpi, 2004). Acid pellets
showed high reduction degradation due to the presence of more hema-
tite bonds and less silicate bonds. Magnesite pellets, with MgO, exhibited
considerably less reduction degradation, as shown in Fig. 7, due to the
presence of silicate melt and magnesioferrite, which are more stable
compared to hematite. In the earlier studies by the author, it was ob-
served that uniformly distributed silicate melt improves the RDI of iron
ore pellets (Dwarapudi and Ranjan, 2010). In addition to silicate
melt, magnesioferrite formed between the iron oxide grains also
acts as a strong bonding phase that counteracts the reduction deg-
radation (Narita et al., 1977).
As shown in Fig. 8, MgOaddition to pellets in the formof magnesite,
improved their reducibility considerably. Up to 1.0% MgO, reducibility
increased to as high as 80% and slightly decreased thereafter. Formation
of less amount of liquid slag due to the presence of MgOcould be attrib-
uted to this improved reducibility of magnesite pellets (Lingtan et al.,
1983). MgO addition increases the melting point of slag which does
not soften at reduction temperatures and keeps the pores open for re-
ducing gas thereby enhancing reduction. With increasing magnesite ad-
dition beyond 1.5% MgO, amount of silicate melt increases, as shown in
Fig. 2, hindering the ow of reducing gases within the pellet matrix,
thereby lowering the reducibility.
After considering all the quality characteristics of magnesite pellets,
viz., CCS, swelling, RDI and RI, optimum magnesite dosage, to get de-
sired metallurgical properties, was found to be 2 to 3% to get 1.0 to
1.5% MgO content in the red pellets.
5. Conclusions
The effect of magnesite addition, to increase the MgOcontent, onthe
melt formation and microstructure during the induration of iron ore
pellets was examined. Fired pellets with varying MgO contents (from
0 to 3.0%) were tested for cold compression strength, swelling, reduc-
tion degradation index and reducibility. Optical microscope studies
with image analysis software were carried out to estimate the amount
of different phases. SEMEDS analysis was done to record the chemical
analysis of oxide and slag phases. X-ray mapping was also carried out to
understand the distribution of CaO, MgO, SiO
2
and Al
2
O
3
in different
phases. The following conclusions can be drawn from this work:
1. Addition on magnesite resulted in the formation of magnesioferrite
in the red pellets. FeO content of the silicate melt/slag phase in
the pellets decreased from 30% in the acid pellets to around 5% in
the magnesite uxed MgO pellets. Lower FeO in the melt increases
its melting point.
2. CCS of both acid pellets and magnesite uxed pellets is within the ac-
ceptable limit for blast furnace. In magnesite pellets, CCS decreased
with increasing MgO due to the formation of low strength silicate
melt phase.
3. Acid pellets exhibited highest swelling. Addition of MgO consider-
ably reduced the swelling tendency of pellets due to the formation
of high melting point slag that gives sufcient bond strength to with-
stand the reduction stresses.
4. Reduction degradation of pellets reduced with increasing MgO, due
to the formation of more amount of magnesioferrite and silicate
melt, which are more stable under the reducing conditions in blast
furnace.
5. MgO addition considerably improved the reducibility of the pellets,
especially in the range of 0.5 to 1.5% MgO. Formation of less amount
of liquid slag due to the presence of MgO could be attributed to this
improved reducibility of magnesite pellets.
6. At 1.0 to 1.5% MgO content, red pellets exhibited optimum metal-
lurgical properties.
Acknowledgments
Authors are thankful to the management of Tata Steel for permit-
ting to publish this paper. Thanks are also due to Prof A K Lahiri (IISc
Bangalore), Mr. Ashok Kumar (Chief, RMIMTG), Mr. P R Prasad
(Chief, Agglomerates) and Mr. Surajit Sinha (Chief Pellet plant) for
their valuable inputs.
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