J. Cent. South Univ.

(2015) 22: 3302−3310

DOI: 10.1007/s11771-015-2870-6

Effect of pyroxenite and olivine minerals as source of MgO in

hematite pellet on improvement of metallurgical properties

Jagannath Pal1, Satadal Ghorai1, Bikash Nandi2, Tapas Chakraborty2, Goutam Das1, T. Venugopalan2
1. CSIR-National Metallurgical Laboratory, Jamshedpur-831007, India;
2. Tata Steel, Jamshedpur-831001, India
© Central South University Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2015

Abstract: Pelletization of hematite ore requires high fineness and very high induration temperature (~1325 °C) owing to its poor
diffusion bonding unlike magnetite ore. Further, high-alumina hematite pellets show very high reduction degradation index (RDI)
during low temperature (500−650 °C) reduction due to their volume expansion and lattice distortion. Noamundi (India) hematite ore
contains very high Al2O3 (2.3%) with adverse ratio of alumina to silica (~2) for which, it shows very high RDI. In this work, the acid
pellets prepared from Noamundi ore fines of optimum Blaine fineness show good cold crushing strength (CCS). However, it shows
very high RDI (77%). In order to reduce RDI, MgO in form of two different gangue-containing fluxes, such as pyroxenite and olivine
in varying quantities has been added. The optimum requirement and performance of these fluxes has been examined and compared.
Both pyroxenite and olivine fluxed pellets show significant lowering of RDI (26% and 23%, respectively) and improvement of other
properties, viz CCS, swelling indices etc with good reducibility (70%−77%). Finally, a good quality acidic hematite pellet was
developed from high-alumina ore without using any lime which is very important charge material in combination of basic sinter in
blast furnace.

Key words: hematite pellet; high-alumina ore; reduction degradation index (RDI); pyroxenite flux; olivine flux; effect of MgO

lattice distortion during transformation of hematite to

1 Introduction
At present, most of the blast furnaces worldwide are
using heat hardened pellets in varying proportion
replacing lump ore and sinter and thus, pelletization is in
increasing demand. Improvement in quality of pellets
such as physical, chemical and physico-chemical
properties is essential to get smooth operation of blast
furnace and satisfactory production.
Several investigators have tried to improve quality
of iron ore pellets by up gradation of iron ore, controlling
fineness, adding fluxes etc. Addition of flux may
improve the pellet properties by forming a suitable slag
bonding and nullifying the bad effect of other gangue
oxides like alumina, while in magnetite pellets, some
heat inside pellet is generated due to the exothermic
oxidation of Fe3O4 to Fe2O3 during induration that helps
to enhance strength; in hematite pellet this in-situ heat is
not available. Therefore, hematite ore requires high
fineness and very high induration temperature (above
1300 °C). Further, the hematite pellets with very high
alumina degrade severely during low temperature
(550−650 °C) reduction due to the volume expansion and
magnetite and show very high reduction degradation
index (RDI).
The reduction of RDI of hematite ore pellets has
been studied using MgO bearing fluxes such as
pyroxenite [1−2], olivine [3−4], magnesite [5−7],
dolomite [8−10] and all of them found that MgO in iron
ore pellet can decrease the RDI and swelling index and
increase the reducibility. Sometimes CCS has also been
improved by MgO bearing fluxes. It also increases the
softening melting temperature of pellet, resulting in
improvement in permeability of blast furnace burden in
downstream process [10]. The several MgO bearing
fluxes have different effects on the pellet properties due
to their different gangue contents. On the other hand, the
properties of any specific MgO bearing flux vary with
the quality and character of ore used in pelletization.
Though the effects of several MgO bearing fluxes have
been studied by the above investigators with different
sources of iron ore, there is hardly any study to compare
the effect of different MgO sources on a single ore.
Noamundi iron ore shows very high RDI due to its
very high alumina with adverse ratio alumina to silica
(Al2O3/SiO2=1.87) [2]. As the silica content of this ore is

Received date: 2014−11−07; Accepted date: 2015−02−19

Corresponding author: Jagannath Pal, PhD; Tel: +91−6572345240; Fax: +91−6572345213; E-mail: jgpal2003@yahoo.co.in
J. Cent. South Univ. (2015) 22: 3302−3310
low, any MgO bearing flux with high silica may be
suitable for reduction in RDI. Therefore, two important
flux materials available in form of magnesio silicate with
wide difference in gangue oxide (SiO2) content have
been chosen to reduce the RDI of this high-alumina
hematite ore aiming to compare their effects on pellet
properties and optimum levels of their requirements for
development of good quality acidic pellets without using
any lime.
2 Experimental
In this work, iron ore fines of Noamundi, India were
used. Table 1 shows the chemical compositions and
Table 2 shows the size distribution of as-received
Noamundi ore. To make it suitable for pelletization, dry
iron ore was ground for varying time to different size
fractions in a ball mill with batch size of 13.5 kg using
111 kg of steel balls. Several batches of ore were ground
with varying time.
Fine size distribution (sieve analysis) and Blaine
fineness (specific surface area) measured in Blaine
permeability apparatus as per standard: ASTM C-204,
2007 for the ground product used for making different
pellets along with their codes are presented in Table 3.
The sized iron ore fines were mixed with 0.5%
3303
bentonite in a rotary cone mixer. The bentonite was from
Kachchh region of India whose chemical compositions
are presented in Table 4. The mixture was then pelletized
with intermittent manual spray of water (7%−9%) for
nucleation and growth of pellets in a disc pelletizer
having 700 mm disk diameter with 30 r/min speed. The
pellet size was maintained between 8 mm and 16 mm. In
order to improve the pellet properties, flux materials, viz
pyroxenite/olivine, was added as the source of MgO. The
chemical compositions of pyroxenite and olivine are
listed in Table 5. After preparation, the green pellets were
discharged and subjected to tests, viz green compressive
strength (GCS), green drop strength number (GDSN),
dry compressive strength (DCS) and moisture content.
The codes of the pellets made with varying MgO fluxes
are listed in Table 6. Effect of MgO in form of
pyroxenite and olivine was studied using D group iron
ore fines except one with F group.
Green compressive strength (GCS) was measured
just after making green pellets using Hounsfield material
testing machine. The green drop strength number (GDSN)
was conventionally measured by repeatedly dropping an
individual green pellet upon a mild steel plate from a
conventional height of 450 mm. The number of drops
accepted by the pellets before breaking was termed as
GDSN. The green pellets were dried in an oven at 110 ºC

Table 1 Chemical analysis of ore fines (mass fraction, %)

Fetot Fe2O3 FeO SiO2 Al2O3 P S CaO LOI
64.17 91.76 0.68 1.21 2.27 0.082 0.082 0.15 4.0

Table 2 Initial size fraction of iron ore fines (mass fraction, %)

>10 mm 6.35−10 mm 5−6.35 mm 3.15−5 mm 1−3.15 mm <1 mm
3.1 14.5 5.4 19.0 26.8 30.9

Table 3 Size fraction and Blaine fineness of iron ore used after grinding
Blaine Size fraction (BS mesh)/%
Fines Group Code
fineness/(cm2·g−1) <72 72−100 100−150 150−200 200−240 240−350 >350
C 2041 17.8 11.1 6.2 5.2 3.1 4.4 52.1
D 2145 10.8 10 7 6.5 5.4 4.1 55.8
E 2392 9.9 10.7 6.2 5.7 2.3 3.1 62
F 3456 6 3.2 3.1 1.7 2.4 3.4 80

Table 4 Chemical analysis of bentonite used (mass fraction, %)

SiO2 Al2O3 FeO Fe2O3 CaO MgO Na2O Moisture
60.84 17.81 1.92 3.1 0.94 2.57 1.6 9.59

Table 5 Chemical compositions of fluxes used (mass fraction, %)

Flux material MgO CaO SiO2 Al2O3 Fe2O3 Cr2O3 Mn LOI
Pyroxenite 28.5 - 52.66 0.16 9.09 1.05 0.08
Olivine 47.0 - 39.2 0.7 - - 0.3 10
3304 J. Cent. South Univ. (2015) 22: 3302−3310
Table 6 Kinds of pellets and amount of additives in pellet mix
Pellet group (Group Code) Fines used Flux used w(Bentonite)/% w(Pyroxenite)/% w(Olivine)/% w(Equivalent MgO in pellets)/%
C C No Flux 0.5 0 0 0
D D No Flux 0.5 0 0 0
E E No Flux 0.5 0 0 0
F F No Flux 0.5 0 0 0
D.5.03p D Pyroxenite 0.5 1.05 0 0.3
D.5.06p D Pyroxenite 0.5 2.11 0 0.6
D.5.09p D Pyroxenite 0.5 3.16 0 0.9
D.5.12p D Pyroxenite 0.5 4.21 0 1.2
D.5.03ov D Olivine 0.5 0 0.64 0.3
D.5. 06ov D Olivine 0.5 0 1.28 0.6
D.5. 09ov D Olivine 0.5 0 1.91 0.9
D.5. 12ov D Olivine 0.5 0 2.55 1.2

for 4 h. The moisture content of pellet was measured
from the mass loss of the representative green pellet
sample (20−25 g) due to heating in an oven at 110 °C for
4 h until constant mass was observed. Dry compressive
strengths (DCS) of oven dried pellets were also
measured in Hounsfield material testing machine.
The pellets were indurated (in varying capacity of
0.1 kg to 1.8 kg per batch) in an electrically heated
chamber furnace (Mo−Si2 heating element) of hot zone
400 mm×300 mm×300 mm in varying temperature and
induration time using Inconel/mullite crucible.
Cold crushing strength (CCS) of indurated pellets
was measured using Honsfield’s materials testing
machine (Model: H 10K-S) as per standard: IS:
8625−1986. Both apparent porosity (standard IS: 1528,
part-VIII-1974) and bulk density (standard IS: 1528,
part-XII-1974) of indurated pellets were measured in
kerosene medium.
Reducibility index (RI) of pellets was measured as
per standard: JIS: M 8713−2000. For measuring
swelling index (SI) the pellets were reduced as per
standard: JIS: M 8713−2000. After 3 h of reduction in
gas of 30% CO and 70% N2 at 900 °C, volume change of
pellet was measured by mercury displacement method.
RDI of several indurated pellets was measured as per
standard: JIS: M 8720−2001.
In order to study the existence of several phases,
X-ray diffraction (XRD) analyses of selected indurated
pellets after making powders of it (≤0.15 mm) were
carried out for phase analysis by a Siemens D500 X-ray
diffractometer using Cu-Kα radiation. The scanning
speed was maintained at 2, 1 (°)/min. Existence of
several phases was identified by JCPDS files. Selected
samples were polished and observed under the optical
microscope (Make: Leica). The area fractions of several
phases and pores had been measured by the image
analysis software.
3 Results and discussion
3.1 Acid pellet without MgO flux
Properties of green pallets made with varying
fineness are shown in Table 7. All pellets show the green
and dry pellets properties within the industrially
acceptable range (acceptable; GCS: 22 N/pellet DCS: 1.0
kg/pellet, GDSN: 5 Nos, respectively) [11]. The CCS of
the same pellets indurated at 1325 °C is shown in Fig. 1.
The figure depicts that CCS increases with increase in
Blaine fineness. This is because the smaller hematite
particles (<15 μm) tend to disappear on firing at high
temperature and recrystallize into larger hematite
granules, which act as bridges, bonding together particles
of neighbouring larger size and impart strength to the
pellets [12]. Thus, the increase in small size particles in
the pellet feed material led to an increase in bridge
formation and resulted in better CCS. The pellets with
high Blaine fineness therefore show higher CCS. Further,
the effect of Blaine fineness on CCS is high in lower
Blaine region (Fig. 1), indicating that amount of bridge
formation by disappearance of small size particles and
recrystallization of larger granules at firing temperature
increases significantly with increasing Blaine fineness in
the lower range of Blaine fineness below 2145 cm2/g and
after that it does not increase significantly. At this point,
the CCS could be achieved up to 240 kg/pellet, which
appears to be a good strength and would be acceptable
for blast furnace operation. Therefore, the physico-
chemical properties of the pellet made with the iron ore
of Blaine fineness 2145 cm2/g are examined and listed in
Table 8.
J. Cent. South Univ. (2015) 22: 3302−3310
Table 7 Properties of green pellets without MgO flux with varying fineness
Pellet Group Code Blaine No. w(Bentonite)/% w(Moisture)/%
C 2041 0.5
D 2145 0.5
E 2392 0.5
F 3456 0.5
Fig. 1 Effect of fineness on CCS of indurated acid pellets
without any flux
Table 8 Physico-chemical properties of acid pellets
Pellet group Induration RDI Swelling
RI/%
code temperature/°C (<3.15 mm)/% index
D 1325 79 77.6 19.18
RI (77%) has been found to be excellent. Swelling
index was found to be around 19%, which may be
acceptable for BF iron making. The pellet shows very
high RDI of about 77%. Owing to very high RDI, the
acid pellet from Noamundi ore fines may create problem
for use in blast furnace. The possible reason for this high
RDI is as follows.
When hematite ore is reduced at low temperature
(500−650 °C), hexagonal hematite transforms into cubic
magnetite. Around 24% volume expansion happened
[13]. During volume expansion, due to severe lattice
distortion, internal stress is developed and acts towards
certain planes. Cracks happen in brittle matrix especially
at grain boundaries. LU et al [14] showed that the
presence of alumina as solute in hematite is responsible
for high RDI. PIMENTA and SESHADRI [15] explained
that hematite containing alumina generates a magnetite
phase with distorted structure, during low temperature
reduction, which, together, with the structural
deformation resulting from volumetric change of the
hematite crystal, can promote crack initiation and
propagation in the sinter, leading to disintegration.
Silica may decrease the degradation during
reduction of pellet by formation of stable silicate phase.
However, silica content of this ore is very low (1.21%).
3305
GCS/(kg·pellet−1) GDSN DCS/(kg·pellet−1)
9.0 1.10 11 3.2
9.1 1.25 12 3.5
8.8 1.21 10 3.4
8.8 1.28 11 2.8
The resulting high ratio of Al2O3/SiO2 (~1.87) may be
attributed to high RDI in acid pellet.
Owing to the high RDI value, it may create
permeability loss, hanging and production loss. RDI
value may be decreased by addition of suitable flux
material and formation of good slag bond. In this regard
MgO addition was considered because MgO has a role of
stabilizing magnetite. Increasing MgO content leads to
more magnetite and therefore less hematite in sinter/
pellet [14] may cause less strain in pellet during
reduction. The beneficial effect of MgO has also been
observed by DAS et al [16] when magnesium silicates
are used with low silica containing iron ore. Since
Noamundi ore contains very low SiO2 (1.21 %), two
magnesium bearing fluxes were targeted, one is
pyroxenite and other is olivine, in this study.
3.2 Effect of MgO flux
In order to make it suitable for blast furnace,
attempt was made to decrease the RDI by incorporating
MgO through addition of varying quantity of either
pyroxenite or olivine. Accordingly, pyroxenite or olivine
fines <0.074 mm were added with iron ore to get the
varying desired composition of MgO (0.3%−1.2%) in
pellet as listed in Table 6. The Blaine fineness of iron ore
fines for these experiments was kept constant at 2145
cm2/g (Fines D). The properties of green and dry pellets
are presented in Table 9. All properties of green pellets
are good and above acceptable level. No significant
change in green pellet properties has been observed
either for pyroxenite addition or for olivine addition.
CCS values of both pyroxenite and olivine fluxed
indurated (1325 °C) pellets, are 290 kg/pellet and
275 kg/pellet (0.9% MgO), respectively, as shown in
Fig. 2, which are much higher than those of the pellet
without any flux (240 kg/pellet) at identical conditions
(Fig. 1). This is because of recrystallization of hematite
as discussed above along with slag bond formation in the
presence of fluxes. The EPMA-EDS analyses of
indurated pellets fluxed with pyroxenite and olivine are
shown in Fig. 3 and Table 10. Further, CCS increases
with increase in MgO for both pyroxenite fluxed and
olivine fluxed pellets (Fig. 2). Both pyroxenite and olivine
contain silica in significant quantity as gangue material.
These gangue materials make slag bonding at induration
temperature and enhance the bond strength; while
3306 J. Cent. South Univ. (2015) 22: 3302−3310
Table 9 Green and dry properties for fluxed pellets
Pellet group code w(MgO)/% w(Moisture)/% GCS/(kg·pellet−1) GDSN DCS/(kg·pellet−1)
D.5.03p 0.3 9.1 1.25 15 3.3
D.5.06p 0.6 9.4 1.26 16 4.5
D.5.09p 0.9 9.3 1.22 17 4.3
D.5.12p 0.12 9.2 1.21 16 3.2
D.5.03ov 0.3 9.5 1.12 18 3.8
D.5. 06ov 0.6 9.6 1.05 19 3.7
D.5. 09ov 0.9 9.5 1.32 16 4.2
D.5. 12ov 0.12 9.5 1.20 18 3.8

Table 10 EDS analyses of pellet indurated at 1325 °C

Mass fraction/%
Pellet
O Mg Al Si Fe
Pyroxenite fluxed pellet 38.21 0.75 1.74 2.35 59.05
Olivine fluxed pellet 35.14 0.68 1.54 1.89 60.75

formation of slag phase like (Mg−Fe)SiO3 has been

Fig. 2 Effect of MgO (pyroxenite and olivine) on CCS of
indurated pellets
Fig. 3 Micrographs and EDS analysis (whole area under EPMA)
of pellet indurated at 1325 °C: (a) Pyroxenite fluxed pellet; (b)
Olivine fluxed pellet
found in XRD pattern of pyroxenite pellets, in the acid
pellet without flux no such phase has been found as
shown in the Fig. 4. Olivine fluxed pellet also contains
more or less same phases as pyroxenite fluxed pellet as
shown in Fig. 5. Figures 6(a)−(c) show the optical
microstructure of the indurated acid pellet (D), indurated
pyroxenite pellet (D.5.09p) and olivine pellet (D.5.9ov).
In the microstructure of pellet D.5.09p and D.5.9ov,
higher amount of slag phases are found between the
hematite grains than pellet D. The area percent of several
phases obtained from optical micrographs is listed in
Table 11. Higher amount of slag phases are found in the
0.9% MgO pellet than acid pellet without MgO. Thus,
due to the enhanced slag bonding, CCS increases with
increase in MgO content of pellet through pyroxenite and
olivine addition.
The microstructure in Fig. 6 and its area analysis
(Table 11) also shows that the amount of slag phase in
pyroxenite fluxed pellet is more than the olivine fluxed
pellet because of higher gangue in pyroxenite than
olivine. The EDS analysis of indurated pellets (Fig. 3)
also indicates higher amount of silica in pyroxenite than
olivine. Thus, due to the fact that the lower amount of
gangue and less slag formation pore area in olivine pellet
is more than the pyroxenite pellet, apparent porosity and
bulk density (Table 12) are similar in both. This may be
due to higher amount closed pores in olivine pellet. This
higher amount of slag phase in pyroxenite pellet and
lower pore area may be the reason of little higher
strength in it than olivine fluxed pellet (Fig. 2).
MgO fluxed pellet shows much higher strength
when induration temperature was increased to 1350 °C
(Fig. 2). The enhancement of recrystallization of
J. Cent. South Univ. (2015) 22: 3302−3310
Fig. 4 XRD patterns of indurated (1325 °C) pellets with
varying pyroxenite: (a) Pyroxenite pellet of 1.2% MgO;
(b) Pyroxenite pellet of 0.9% MgO; (c) Acid pellet
hematite at higher temperature may be the one reason. In
XRD study (Fig. 4), the MgO containing slag phases has
been found in the MgO fluxed pellet. This MgO
containing slag has high melting temperature. Therefore,
at higher temperature slag becomes more fluid and better
distributed surrounding the grains, resulting in
enhancement of slag phase. This may be the one more
reason of getting higher strength at high temperature.
Effect of pyroxenite and olivine on reducibility
index is presented in Fig. 7. Initially, RI decreases with
3307
Fig. 5 XRD patterns of 0.9% MgO-fluxed pellets (indurated at
1325 °C) with two different sources: (a) Pyroxenite pellet; (b)
Olivine pellet
increase in MgO content in both the pyroxenite and
olivine fluxed pellet. This may be attributed to the
formation of slag phases surrounding the hematite phases
(Figs. 5 and 6) due to the presence of silica in pyroxenite
and olivine and decreasing the apparent porosity of pellet
as listed in Table 12. It may be noted that pyroxenite has
high percentage of silica than olivine. Thus, for the same
level of MgO, SiO2 input with pyroxenite is higher than
olivine. Therefore, decrease of RI (0.9% MgO level) is
much higher in pyroxenite fluxed pellet, though a little
decrease is also observed in olivine pellet (0.6% MgO
level).
The increasing of RI beyond certain amount of
MgO level (0.9% for pryroxenite and 06% for olivine)
for both pyroxenite and olivine fluxed pellet possibly
attributed to the formation of slag phases with higher
amount of MgO and magnesio ferrite (MgFe2O4) spinel
phase (Figs. 4 and 5) formation, which have very high
melting points and make the slag viscous at induration
temperature and may create more porous structure,
favourable for good RI. Thus, in the presence of high
silica and comparatively less viscous slag formation,
pyroxenite pellet shows lower RI than olivine pellets for
3308 J. Cent. South Univ. (2015) 22: 3302−3310
Table 12 Apparent porosity and bulk density of pellet indurated
at 1325 °C
Pellet Apparent porosity/% Bulk density/(g·cm−3)
Pyroxenite fluxed
19.36 3.76
pellet D.5.09p
Olivine fluxed
19.31 3.75
pellet D.5.09ov
Acid pellet D 22.7 3.76

Fig. 7 Effect of pyroxenite and olivine on RI of indurated pellet

Fig. 6 Optical microstructure of pellets indurated at 1325 °C

(White: Hematite grains; Light grey: Magnesio silicate; Dark
grey: Slag; Black: Pore): (a) Acid pellet D; (b) Pyroxenite
fluxed (0.9% MgO, pellet D.5.09p); (c) Olivine fluxed (0.9%
Fig. 8 Effect of pyroxenite and olivine on swelling index of
MgO, pellet D.5.09ov)
indurated pellets

Table 11 Area percentage of different phases in indurated

provides sufficient bonding strength even at high
pellets
temperature during reduction, and withstands the
Area fraction/%
Induration reduction stress. The pyroxenite fluxed pellet shows
Pellet Iron oxide Silicate/slag
temperature/°C Pore lower swelling index than olivine flux pellet for the same
phase phase
level of MgO. This may be due to high silica content; the
Acid pellet D 1325 77.02 5.36 17.62
slag distributes more uniformly in pyroxenite pellet and
D.5.09p 1325 62.51 11.38 26.1 gives less porous structure than the olivine as shown in
D.5.09ov 1325 57.54 8.47 33.98 Fig. 6. This makes the slag bond stronger. Though the
Area fraction is estimated from optical micrographs. swelling index is higher in olivine pellet than the
pyroxenite pellet, it is well within the acceptable limit.
similar level of MgO. RDI values of both pyroxenite and olivine pellet
Swelling index also decreases with increase in decrease sharply with increase in MgO content as shown
pyroxenite and olivine (MgO) content of pellet as shown in Fig. 9. In the XRD peaks (Figs. 4 and 5), mainly four
in Fig. 8. MgO produces high melting point slag which types of phases have been found in pyroxenite and in
J. Cent. South Univ. (2015) 22: 3302−3310
olivine fluxed pellets viz Fe2O3, Al−Fe−SiO2−O,
MgFe2O4 and (Mg.Fe)SiO3 whereas, last two phases
were not found in acid pellets. The above phases are
produced during induration and provide bonding
between the grains. It is explained earlier that hematite
bonds are strong but, in reducing atmosphere it reduces
to magnetite with volume expansion and lattice distortion
which makes it unsuitable. Magnesio ferrite and silicate
bonds remain unaltered during reduction at low
temperature and withstand the stress due to expansion of
hematite grains and prevent degradation. In pyroxenite
fluxed pellet, sharp decrease of RDI has been found for
addition level of MgO up to 0.9%, where RDI value is
around 27% and it becomes around 26% at 1.2% MgO
level, namely beyond 0.9% MgO, improvement is very
marginal. However, in olivine fluxed pellet, RDI
monotonically decreases to very low level (22.5%) for
addition level of MgO up to 1.2% MgO. This indicates
that at higher percentage of MgO level the olivine is the
better flux material than pyroxenite from RDI point of
view though pyroxenite also lowers RDI (26%) of
hematite pellet up to bellow the acceptable limit in blast
furnace. Overall the results indicate that the MgO level
in hematite pellet either through pyroxenite or olivine
should be within 0.9%−1.2%.
Fig. 9 Effect of pyroxenite and olivine on swelling index of
indurated pellets
Both olivine and pyroxenite improve the pellet
properties in terms of increasing CCS, decreasing
swelling index and RDI. Olivine fluxed pellet shows
better reducibility than pyroxenite fluxed pellet. Though
pyroxenite shows better performance in improving CCS
and lowering swelling indices than olivine pellet, it
shows comparatively higher RDI. However, it is within
the acceptable range in blast furnace. It has been
mentioned earlier that olivine has more MgO content
(1.65 times that of pyroxenite) than pyroxenite (Table 5),
namely each gram of olivine is equivalent to 1.65 g of
pyroxenite. Further, pyroxenite has more amount of SiO2
3309
(52.7%) than olivine (39%). Thus, in order to maintain
similar level of MgO, 2.2 times SiO2 input occur when
pyroxenite is used in place of olivine. Therefore, when
silica in iron ore is comparatively high, olivine is the
better option than pyroxenite and vice versa. Thus, the
selection of its use depends upon the plants requirements,
type of iron ore and availability of these fluxes.
This work developed pellets from Noamundi high-
alumina hematite ore using pyroxenite or olivine as
fluxed material without addition of any lime. MgO-
fluxes have been used along with limestone for the
purpose of lowering RDI [1, 6]. However, acidic pellet
without limestone in the present process would have a
great importance in blast furnace operation in view of its
charging together with highly basic sinter.
4 Conclusions
1) Acid pellet made from Noamundi hematite ore
shows good green properties and CCS; however, due to
its high alumina to silica ratio (1.87), it shows poor RDI
(78%) and it is not usable in blast furnace.
2) RDI of the high-alumina hematite pellets have
been lowered up to 27% and 22% by adding pyroxenite
and olivine as source of MgO, respectively.
3) Other properties of pellet are improved CCS
increases to 275 and 290 kg/pellet and swelling index
decreases to 8% and 14% with olivine and pyroxenite
addition, respectively. Although, RI slightly decreases
from 79% (without flux) to around 74% and 77% for the
olivine and pyroxenite addition, respectively, the
obtained RI values of pellets in both the fluxed
conditions remains satisfactory for their use in blast
furnace.
4) Some differences in effects of these two MgO-
fluxes on pellet properties have been observed, while
pyroxenite fluxed pellet shows higher CCS and lower
swelling indices than olivine pellet due to its high silica
content. Olivine fluxed pellet shows higher reducibility
and lower RDI at the high level of MgO (0.9%).
5) The developed MgO-fluxed pellets (0.9%−1.2%
MgO level) without using any lime show good pellets
properties with very low RDI and are found to be
suitable for blast furnace use. Both pyroxenite and
olivine fluxes can be used suitably with this high alumina
hematite ore for this purpose. However, due to the
differences in effects of these two MgO fluxes, their
selection depends upon the plant’s requirements, type of
iron ore and availability of these fluxes.
Acknowledgements
Authors thankfully acknowledge the management of
Tata Steel, Jamshedpur, India for financially supporting
3310 J. Cent. South Univ. (2015) 22: 3302−3310
this investigation, and express their sincere gratitude to hematite pellets [J]. International Journal of Mineral Processing,
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Dr. S. Srikanth, Director, CSIR-National Metallurgical
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(Edited by YANG Hua)
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