THE SINTERING PROCESS OF IRON ORE

FINES

IRON MAKING PROCESS

RANGGA RAMANDANA
2713100104
SEPULUH NOPEMBER INSTITUT OF TECHNOLOGY

Chapter 1. Preface

1.
2.
3.
4.

Sintering plants are normally associated with the production of hot metal in blast
furnaces in integrated steel pants. The process of sintering is basically a pre-treatment process
step during iron making to produce charge material called sinter for the blast furnace from iron
ore fines and also from metallurgical wastes (collected dusts, sludge and mill scale etc.).
The sintering technology was originally developed for the purpose of using the iron the
metallurgical waste of a steel plant and iron ore fines in the blast furnace. But currently the focus
has changed. Now the sintering process aims to produce a high quality burden for the blast
furnace. Today sinter is the main metallic burden for a large blast furnace.
The principle of sintering involves the heating of iron ore fines along with flux and coke
fines or coal to produce a semi-molten mass that solidifies into porous pieces of sinter with the
size and strength characteristics necessary for feeding into the blast furnace.
It is basically an agglomeration process achieved through combustion.
The product of the sintering process is called sinter and is having good following quality
characteristics
Chemical analysis
Grain size distribution
Reducibility
Sinter strength
Sinters are classified into acid sinter, self-fluxing sinter and super fluxed sinter.Selffluxing sinter brings the lime required to flux its acid components
(SiO2, Al2O3). Super-fluxed sinter brings extra CaO to the blast furnace. For self-fluxing and
super-fluxed sinter, the lime reduces the melting temperature of the blend and at relatively low
temperature. Incase ofself-fluxing and super-fluxed sinter, the lime reduces the melting
temperature of the blend and at relatively low temperatures (1100 Deg C to 1300 Deg C) strong
bonds are formed in the presence of FeO. The following are the advantages of adding flux to
the sinter

It generates slag with the impurities present in the iron ores and solid fuels producing a
suitable matrix for cohesion of the particles

It improves the physical and metallurgical properties of sinter

It reduces the melting temperature of the iron ore blend

It promotes the calcination reaction of the limestone (CaCO3 =CaO + CO2) outside of
the blast furnace hence saving heat consumption in the blast furnace.

Chapter 2. Sintering Process

The process of sintering begins with the preparation of the raw materials consisting of
iron ore fines, fluxes, in-plant metallurgical waste materials, fuel and return fines of the sinter
plant. These materials are mixed in a rotating drum and water is added in order to reach proper
agglomeration of the raw materials mix. This agglomeration is in the form of micro-pellets.
These micro pallets assist in obtaining optimum permeability during the sintering process.
These micro pellets are then conveyed to the sintering machine and charged.
A layer of controlled size sinter (bedding) is fed to the bottom of the sinter machine grates for
the protection of the grates. After this the moistened micro pellets of the raw materials mix is fed
and leveled.
After the material is leveled on the sinter machine, the surface of the charged material on the
sinter machine is ignited using gas or oil burners. Air is drawn through the moving bed causing
the fuel to burn. Sinter machine velocity and gas flow are controlled to ensure that burn
through (i.e. the point at which the burning fuel layer reaches the base of the strand) occurs just
prior to the sinter being discharged. During the machine movement the sintering of the material
bed on the grate proceeds downward. Waste gas circuit is to be fully leak proof, not allowing air
from atmosphere to be sucked by the system. This results into saving of power in the waste gas
circuit.
At the end of the machine the sintered material in the form of cake is discharged into the hot
sinter crusher. Here the hot sinter cake is crushed to a pre-determined maximum particle size.
From here the sinter is discharged onto sinter cooler which can be either straight line or circular
cooler. After cooler the sinter is transferred to the screening section.
In the screening section the product sinter, bedding and return fines are separated. Return fines,
not suitable for downstream processing, are conveyed to a bin for recycling in the sintering
process. Waste gases are treated for dust removal in a cyclone, electrostatic precipitator, wet
scrubber or fabric filter. The material flow of the sinter plant is shown

Fig 1 Material flow in a sinter plant

The flexibility of the sintering process permits conversion of a variety of materials, including iron
ore fines, captured dusts, ore concentrates, and other iron-bearing materials of small particle
size (e.g., mill scale) into a clinker-like agglomerate.
Sinter machines
Sinter machines are of two types i) circular and ii) Straight line. Straight line
Machines are also being known as Dwight and Lloyd machines. Dwight and
Lloyd constructed the first continuous sinter plant in 1906.Circular sinter machines are normally
suitable for blast furnaces having useful volumes of 650 Cu m and less. The man parameters of
some of the circular machines are given
in Table 1.
Table 1 Main Parameters of Circular Sinter machines
12 Sqm
17 Sqm
25 Sqm
33 Sqm
Subject
Unit
machine
machine
machine
machine
Annual Production 1000 tpa
172
253
404.5
556
Total Power
requirement
kW
700
1500
1750
2400
Land needed for
plant
Sqm
8000
9000
10000
12000
Land needed for
building
Sqm
800
3400
35000
3600
Various features of the circular machines are as below.

When compared with the straight line machines the capital investment costs are low and
the construction periods are short.

Sealing is better and air leakage is less in these machines since the wind boxes move
synchronously with grates and since water sealing is adopted.

Discharging system makes the size of cold sinter such that there is no need of an
additional crusher.

The circular machines are having high operational flexibility

Straight line machines are normally used for large sinter plants. Present straight line
machines are installed having widths from 2 meters to 5 meters and with effective sintering
areas from 200 to 600 Sqm. The productivity of such machines typically ranges from 30 to
46t/Sqm/day. Capacities of such machines range from 190,000 tons per annum to 6.5 Mtpa.

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Important issues related to sinter And sintar plants

Use of sinter reduces the coke rate and enhances tbhe productivity in blast furnace
Sintering process helps utilization of iron ore fines (0-10 mm) generated during iron ore
mining operations
Sintering process helps in recycling all the iron, fuel and flux bearing waste materuals in
the steel plant.
Sintering process utilizes by product gases of the steel plant.
Sinter can not be stored for a long time as it generate excessive fines during long
storages
Sinter generates excessive fines during multiple handling

Chapter 3. Conclusion
The sintering process is the combination of the blended ore, flux, coke breeze, after
mixing and granulation, then charged into the sintering machine and completed the sintering
process by the suction fan, then through cooling and screening process, the product of sinter
will be transported to BF as the main source of iron-contained material .