EXTRACTIVE METALLURGY (FMC304) 3-0-0

Unit
Topics to be Covered
No.
Typical ore to metal flow sheet; brief introduction to pyro/hydro-metallurgy, criteria for selecting
1
pyrometallurgy/ hydrometallurgy route for metal extraction
Drying. Gas-solid reactions; shrinking core model; calcination, roasting, agglomeration, reduction
2
reactions
Smelting; matte smelting; flash smelting; converting; vacuum/inert-gas degassing; zone refining;
3
fractional distillation; blast furnace, different zones in blast furnace, blast furnace profile
Leaching; types of leaching, Eh-pH diagrams and their usefulness, chemical precipitation;
4 cementation, solvent extraction; ion exchange; aqueous and molten salt electro-winning; electro-
refining; gaseous reduction of metals
5 Typical flowsheets for extraction of metals such as copper, aluminium, magnesium

1. Process selection in extractive metallurgy by P. Hayes

2. Extraction of nonferrous metals by H. S. Ray, R. Sridhar, K. P. Abraham
3. A first course in iron and steelmaking by Deepak Mazumdar
4. Principle of Extractive Metallurgy by H. S. Ray and A. Ghosh
 Extractive Metallurgy is a science of separating metals from their ores chemically and subsequently refine
them to recover the metal in a pure form.
A ore may be defined as a naturally Run of mines
Mineral Dressing occurring aggregate of minerals from which ore
metal can be extracted economically.
Mineral
C A mineral may be defined as a naturally dressing
Comminution: Crushing, grinding
occurring homogeneous substance of
definite chemical composition and with a Extraction
certain characteristic physical properties. process
C
Sizing: Sorting, screening, classification

Impure metal
Concentration: Gravity conc., Heavy media Dewatering: Sedimentation
separation, Jigging, C Tabling, Magnetic C
thickening, Coagulation, Filtration,
separation, Electrostatic separation, flotation Drying Refining
process
“Mineral dressing is the processing of raw materials to yield
marketable products and waste by means that do not C
Agglomeration: Pelletization, Sintering Pure metal
destroy the physical and chemical identity of the minerals”..
M. A. Gaudin (1951)
Extraction of metal
 Unit Operations in Mineral Processing
Process Description Properties of mineral exploited
Comminution: Crushing, Subdivision of mineral lumps and particles into Brittleness
grinding smaller sizes
Sizing: Sorting, screening Separation according to size Size difference among particles

Hydraulic classification Settling in fluid Relative diff. in size and density

among mineral particles
Concentration:
Gravity concentration
Heavy media separation Settling in liquid Relative differences in density
among particles
Jigging Settling in liquid -do-

Tabling Friction movement along wet vibrating solid
surface
Magnetic separation Separation due to magnetic field in dry and wet
condition
Electrostatic separation Charging and charge loss of particles and their
deflections in electrostatic field
Flotation Attachment of gab bubbles to mineral in aqueous
pulp containing surfactant and frothers.
Density, size, shape and
coefficient of friction
Magnetic permeability and mag.
susceptibility of particles
Conductivity and charge
retention characteristic
Surface properties, affinity for
specific surface active reagents
Process Description Properties of mineral exploited
Dewatering:
Sedimentation thickening Settling of particles Nonspecific
Coagulation Neutralization of charge or repulsion forces Adsorption properties of minerals may
lead to beneficiation
Filtration Solid liquid separation Nonspecific
Drying Removal of moisture from moist solid Nonspecific

Agglomeration:
Pelletization, Nodulizing, Obtaining bigger lumps from smaller Solid-solid reaction at interfaces of
Sintering particles through adhesion or incipient particles
fusion of particles
 TYPICAL ORE TO METAL FLOW SHEET/FLOW DIAGRAM
Ore from mines

Comminution Fire refining

Flotation Casting (anodes)

Concentrate
Tailing
Electrolytic refining
Roasting Air
Flux Gases to waste
Fire refining
Matte smelting

Slag to waste Casting

Matte
99.99% copper
Air
Flux Converting Gases to waste

Slag Blister copper

99% Cu
Flow diagram for extraction of copper from low grade ore
 Extraction Processes
• Pyrometallurgy: Pyrometallurgical processes (pyro means ‘heat’ in Greek) are carried out at high temperature.
• Hydrometallurgy: Hydrometallurgy (Hyro means ‘water’ in Greek) is carried out in aqueous media at room temperature.
• Electrometallurgy: Electrometallurgy employs electrolysis for separation at room temperature as well as at high
temperature.

Pyrometallurgy: Pyrometallurgical methods of metal production are usually cheaper and suited for large scale productions.
1. Reaction rate are greatly accelerated at high temperatures. Small units can, therefore, achieve high production rates.
2. Some reactions which are not thermodynamically possible at low temperatures become so at higher temperatures.
3. There is greater ease physical separation of the product metal from gangue, if the products can be melted or vaporized at
high temperatures.

 Large amount of heat energy is required to generate high temperature: high fuel consumption
 Due to high temperature erosion of refractory by molten metal and molten slag, is rather more on the furnace lining
 Oxidation of Sulphur/carbon, during the process, generate Sulphur dioxide/carbon dioxide gas leading to pollution
Calcination: Calcination is the thermal treatment of an ore that brings about its decomposition and eliminates
the volatile product- usually carbon dioxide or water. The temperature required for calcination can be calculated
from the free energy temperature relationship for the reaction under consideration.
CaCO3 (c)= CaO (c) + CO2 (g), ∆G0T (cal) = 42300 – 37.7T

When the CO2 pressure is 1 at, ∆G0T becomes equal to 1 and T equal to 1123K or 850oC.

Roasting: The roasting of an ore or a concentrate is a process which precedes smelting in Pyrometallurgy and
leaching in hydrometallurgy. An oxide is more easily reduced to the metal than a sulphide, and leaching
becomes easier if the metal is present as a sulphate, chloride or oxide.
Therefore, the mineral constituent of an ore must be converted into another chemical form. Such a conversion
is known as roasting.
OXIDING ROASTING: It is the most important roasting process, burns out the Sulphur from a sulphide ore and replace it by an
oxide.
MS (c) + 3/2 O2 MO (c) + SO2 (g)
ZnS (c) + 3/2 O2 ZnO (c) + SO2 (g)
When a sulphide ore is roasted to a point where almost the entire Sulphur content is eliminated, the residue is called dead
roasting
A catalytic agent often speeds up the roasting process. Quartz and other gangue materials often act as catalysts during roasting.
Roasting deepens on factor such as time, temperature the availability of oxygen or air, the physical condition of ore and the
nature of mechanical devices used.

Volatizing Roasting: Volatizing roasting eliminates volatile oxides such as As2O3, Sb2O3 and ZnO from an ore. In volatizing
roasting, the inflow of oxygen should be carefully controlled, as excessive oxidation may lead to the formation of non-volatile
higher oxides.
Chloridizing Roasting: Chloridizing roasting is carried out to convert certain metal compounds to chlorides under oxidizing or
reducing conditions. Many metals e.g. uranium, beryllium, niobium, zirconium and titanium are extracted from their chlorides.
2NaCl + MS + O2 = Na2SO4 + MCl2,
4NaCl + 2MO + S2 + 3O2 = 2Na2SO4 + 2MCl2

Other Kind of Roasting

• Sulphating Roasting converts certain sulphide ores to sulphates, usually prior to leaching.
• Magnetizing roasting is the controlled reduction of hematite (Fe2O3) to magnetite (Fe3O4).
• Reduction roasting is the partial reduction of an oxide ore prior to actual reduction smelting.
• Blast roasting or sinter roasting not only modifies the physical condition of an ore but also helps in its partial oxidation.
ROASTING PRACTICE

Required Physical condition of product: Coarse or fine particles

Required Chemical condition of product: Chemical composition of minerals/ores

INDUSTRIAL ROASTING UNITS

Multiple Hearth Roasting: Designed by McDougall in England (Late 19

Century)
Basic principle: Counter current flow of solid ore and oxidizing gases
Shell dia: 25 ft and No of hearth: 6-12
Charging method: Top charging
Ore movement: continuous shifting of charge by revolving mechanical rabble
attached to the arm
Oxidizing gas movement: Ascending
Drawback:
• Slow roasting
Flash Roasting:
• Preheated ore particles are made to fall through body of hot air
• Instantaneous oxidation or flash of combustible constituents of the ore, Sulphur
• Ore should be fine size
• Temperature of combustible zone = 900 – 9500C

Fluidized Bed Roasting:

• Principle- Ore particles roasted while it is suspended in an upward stream gases
• Gas passes through a bed of solid particles, size range: 0.005-0.05 mm
• The behaviour of the bed depends on the velocity of the gas
1. When the gas flow rate is very slow the gas permeates the bed without disturbing the ore particle.
The pressure drop across the bed is proportional the gas flow
2. When the gas velocity increases, the bed expands upward due to the drag forces exerted by the gas
The pressure drop across the bed depends on the gas velocity
3. When the gas velocity is further increases, a stage is reached when the pressure
drop across the bed is equal to the weight of the particles per unit area of he bed. The
particles now remain suspended.
4. Further increasing the gas velocity leads to the continued expansion of the bed and
results in an increase in the inter particle distance.
5. A stage reaches when the expansion of the bed becomes independent of the gas
velocity . A major portion of the gas stream appears in the form of bubbles bursting
on the surface of the bed, like a well-stirred boiling liquid. This is called fluidized bed.

Sinter Roasting/Blast Roasting:

Sinter roasting is the treatment of a sulphide ore in a sintering
machine where roasting and agglomeration take place simultaneously.
It is carried out in a Dwight-Lloyed Sintering machine.
SMELTING
Smelting is a heating process for the production of a metal or matte
The process is one of reduction of the oxide of the metal with carbon/Sulphur
A flux is added to form a slag that is easily fusible to gangue materials
Mineral + Gangue + Reducing agent + Flux = Metal/Matte + Slag + Gas
The General characteristics:
 The materials to smelted are charged in the solid state
 The products of the smelting are in the liquid state
 The heat required for smelting is supplied by external sources
Types of smelting
1. Reduction smelting: Carried out in blast furnace, the ore is reduced by carbon in the presence of flus, molten metal and
slag produced
2. Flash smelting/ Matte smelting: Carried out in reverberatory furnace or flash smelter, reducing agent is not used, sulphide
acts as a reducing agent, product is molten matte and molten slag.
FLUXES
• A flux is used to lower both the liquidus temperature and the viscosity of the slag
• Flux can be classified according to the chemical and it is selected keeping in view as the chemical nature of
gangue and properties desired in the slag
• For siliceous gangue- a basic oxide like lime is used as a flux, for a basic gange- an acidic oxide like silica is
used
• Oxidizing flux: Na2O2, NaNO3 and KNO3, reducing flux: NaCN and neutral flux: CaF2 or Na2SO4

SLAG
Function of slag:

 To collect the unreacted gangue minerals

 To provide a medium in which the impurities in a metal can collect

A must possess the following properties:
1. The difference between the specific gravities of the slag and the metal should be high
2. The slag must be fluid enough to permit its easy separation from metal
3. The slag must have a chemical composition which ensures that the activities of the impurities

Reduction Melting using carbon

Carbon is element as a reducing agent:
 Easily available
 Inexpensive
The reduction of a metal oxide by carbon can be represented as:
MO + C = CO + M
MO + C = 2M + CO2
The above reaction can be represented more accurately as:
MO + CO = M + CO2
CO2 + C = 2CO
Combining both reaction: MO + C = CO + M
Metallothermic reduction of oxide
An oxide is reduced by a metal that forms stable oxide

It is carried out in an open or a close container

A metal that forms a stable oxide would replace metals from less stable oxides

Fe2O3 + 2Al = Al2O3 + 2Fe

TiO2 + 2Ca = 2CaO + Ti

Formation of slag
• The reduction of a metal oxide by a metal results in a more stable oxide
• Carbon reduction releases siliceous materials or other gangue materials to form a refractory oxide phase
• The formation of liquid slag is felicitated by addition fluxing agents such as quartz and lime
• All silicate melts are viscous, it can be decrease by addition of a suitable basic oxides

Structure of silicate slags

• The structure of pure crystalline silicate is tree dimensional network
consisting of silicon and oxygen atoms possessing both long range and
short range order
• In molten silica, some Si-O-Si bonds rupture due to the effect of thermal
energy and some depolymerization takes place.
• When basic metal oxide MO (Cao, MgO) is added to molten silica, the
three dimensional network starts breaking.
• The silica accepts an oxygen iron and MO donates an oxygen ion
• Depolymerization reaction shows as the quantity of metal oxide addition
increases

Metal losses in Slags

 A complication could arise during smelting when reactant and product oxides themselves form compounds
 Sometime advantageous in case of slag with low melting point and a part of the reactant raw materials would be lost
due to dissolution in the slag
 Metal recovery would be low
 Ex. During smelting of lead ore in B/F, PbO may combine with silica to enter the slag as silicate.
 The PbO loss can be minimize by addition of scrap iron to the charge
 The scrap iron reduce the PbO and also helps in recovery lead from the silicate
PbO + Fe = FeO + Pb
PbO.SiO2 + Fe = FeO.SiO2 + Pb
Classification of Slags
𝑚𝑜𝑙𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑎𝑐𝑖𝑑𝑖𝑐 𝑜𝑥𝑦𝑔𝑒𝑛 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑆𝑖𝑂2
𝑆𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑑𝑒𝑔𝑟𝑒𝑒 =
𝑚𝑜𝑙𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑏𝑎𝑠𝑖𝑐 𝑜𝑥𝑦𝑔𝑒𝑛 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝐶𝑎𝑂, 𝑀𝑔𝑂, 𝐹𝑒𝑂, … .

Basic slags: A basic slag has a silicate degree < 1. The principal anions in a molten basic slag are O2- and SiO44-
Neutral slags: A neutral slag has a silicate degree = 1. The principal anions in a molten neutral slag is SiO44-
Acid slag: A acid has a silicate degree >1. The principal anions in a molten acid slag are the chain silicate anions Si2O76-,
Si3O108-, the ring silicate anions Si4O128- and other globular anions
 SMELTING FURNACES
• The blast furnace is the most popular furnace for reduction smelting
• Smelting of iron ore is the best example of blast furnace operation
• Lead is also produced in the blast furnace
• The imperial smelting has developed for the simultaneous production of lead and zinc
in the blast furnace
• Lead is tapped and zinc is recovered by dissolving the out coming zinc vapours in a
steam of molten lead
• Zinc separates from lead on cooling
• The blast furnace operates in a strongly reducing atmosphere than a reverberatory
furnace
Blast furnace
• An electric arc smelting is employed when very high temperature is required for reduction
• A temperature around 2000oC can easily attained
• Ferroalloys requires high temperature for reduction are smelted in electric arc furnace
• No special furnace is required for the Metallothermic reduction of an oxide
• The need of heat is maintained by exothermic reactions of oxides

Electric Arc Furnace Unit for Metallothermic reduction

• The flash smelting is one of most interesting
development for the smelting of nickel
sulphide and copper sulphide concentrates
• It is a combined process of flash roasting and
smelting operations
• The objective is to burn the concentrate with
oxygen or preheated air blown
• Sufficient heat is generated to form a matte
and a slag
• Oxygen enriched preheated air or pure oxygen
is used instead of air to increase the
combustion rate and to maintain autogenous Flash Smelter
smelting
• The off gases are rich in SO2 and can be used
for H2SO4 production
 MATTE SMELTING

• The sulphide ore is fused with a flux to produce a molten mixture of sulphides as a matte
• The gangue materials pass off into the slag, which is immiscible with the matte
• Some Sulphur is lost in the furnace gases as SO2 or SO3
• A matte is a metallic sulphide solution that contains minor amounts of oxygen and sometimes metals too
• A matte exhibits a high electrical conductivity comparable with that of a metal and has a density in between metal and
slag

• Three distinct layers slag, matte and metal are formed

• A matte is an excellent solvent for some impurity
metals
• Matte smelting is carried out in a reverberatory
furnaces fired with either coal or oil
• Matte smelting is adopted in the extraction of copper,
nickel and antimony
Converting
• The purpose of converting is to remove iron, Sulphur an other
Converter
impurities from the matte
• The molten matte is charged in a converter which is a cylindrical
vessel with a capacity of 100-200 tons of matte
• A typical vessel is 4 m in diameter and 9 m in length and is lined
with a layer of chromite magnesite refractory about 40 cm
thick.
• In the converter, the atmosphere is highly oxiding compared
with the neutral or mildly oxidizing
• Air or oxygen enriched air is injected into the molten matte
through tuyers, each tuyer is about 5 cm diameter and there are
about 40 tuyers in a converter
• The total volume of gas flowing through these tuyers is about
600 m3/min
• The product of the converter are slag and blister copper
Pyrometallurgical operation using Vacuum
• Vacuum is widely employed in large number of operations used in the extraction and refining of metals
• It has also found application in various other processes such as distillation of metals and alloys, melting and casting,
various heat treatment processes, sintering of metal powders, the deposition of metal from its vapour state, joining of
metals by welding and brazing
The emphasis is on the use of vacuum in metal extraction
The reactions that are favoured by the application of vacuum
Thermal reduction
The use of vacuum helps in eliminating
R (s, l) + MA (s, l) = RA (s, l) + M (g) that reaction product which is volatile,
R (s, l) + MA (s, l) = RA (g) + M (s, l) thus the driving the reaction towards
completion. The pressure plays a decisive
Thermal dissociation role in that it changes the free energy
MA(s, l) = M(g) + A (s, l) temperature relationship

MA(s, l) = M(s, l) + A (g)

R is the reducing agent and A is an acid radical e.g. Sulphur, oxygen
Distillation
M (s, l or in solution) = M (g)
• The thermal decomposition of oxides under vacuum does not offer any possibilities for metal extraction
• Unstable oxides such as those of mercury and silver can be decomposed by the application of vacuum
• In the both cases, the metal have a high pressure at the temperatures required for decomposition, and the problem of back
reaction arises
• Zinc sulphide can be directly reduce by iron at 1000oC under vacuum of about 1 mm mercury
• Vacuum can also be used for the dissociation and reduction halides, hydrides and nitrides
• When vacuum is applied, distillation take place at lower temperature.

Reduction of oxide by carbon

The volatile reaction products CO and CO2 lead to an increase in the number of gaseous molecules in the metal-carbon
system and the forward reaction is favoured by lowering the pressure
Nb2O5 + 5C = 2Nb + 5CO, ∆Go = 68.85 kcal at 1200 K
∆𝑮𝟎 = −𝑹𝑻 𝒍𝒏 𝑲 WO3 + 3H2 = W + 3H2O
FeO + CO = Fe + CO2
𝒑𝟓𝑪𝑶 . 𝒂𝟐𝑵𝒃
𝟔𝟖. 𝟖𝟓 𝒙 𝟏𝟎𝟏𝟎 = −𝟒. 𝟓𝟕𝟓 𝒙 𝟏𝟐𝟎𝟎 𝒍𝒐𝒈
𝒂𝑵𝒃𝟐 𝑶𝟓 .𝒂𝟓𝑪 The number of gaseous molecules remain unchanged,
vacuum have on effect on the equilibria
pco is found to be appro. 3x10-3 or 2.28 mm Hg
Metallothermic reduction of oxides and halides
During Metallothermic reduction, vacuum aid the reaction only if there is an increases in the number of gaseous molecules
TiCl4 (g) + 2Mg (l) = Ti (s)+ 2MgCl2(l)
SiCl4 (g)+ 2Zn (g)= Si (s)+ 2ZnCl2(l)
Vacuum have an adverse effect on the equilibrium

Under vacuum, it is also possible reduce the

oxide of Pb, Zn, Mn and Bi with silicon
Q. Copper ore contains 20% Cu2S, 40% FeS2, 30% SiO2 and 10 H2O. Ore is roasted using fuel oil which is 5% of charged ore.
The roasted ore consists of CuS, Fe2O3 and SiO2. Oil consists of 85% C and 15 H2. Find out: (i) air used in m3 at STP per tonne
of ore, (ii) weight of roasted ore, (iii) grams of H2O per m3 of fuel gases.

Cu2S +2O2 = 2CuO + SO2

2FeS2 + 11/2O2 = Fe2O3 + 4SO2
C + O2 = CO2
2H2 + O2 =2H2O
Degassing of Solids
According to Sievert’s Law, solubility of a diatomic gas in metal is proportional to the square root of the partial pressure of
the gas in thermodynamic equilibrium
H2 (g) = 2H Assume: Iron contain 0.0001 wt % hydrogen at
Where H denotes dissolved hydrogen 1000oC and solubility of hydrogen is wt % at the
same temperature
[% 𝑯]𝟐
𝑲=
𝒑𝑯𝟐
Since the solubility of hydrogen in iron is 0.0005 wt%, K = (0.0005)2 at 1 atm.

(𝟎. 𝟎𝟎𝟎𝟏)𝟐
(𝟎. 𝟎𝟎𝟎𝟓)𝟐 =
𝒑𝑯𝟐
pH2 = 1/25 atm = 30.4 mm Hg
When the pressure over the iron sample is reduced below 30.4 mm Hg, the hydrogen content can be brought below 0.0001
wt %. This pressure can be easily attained by employing a simple vacuum system.
Degassing of Liquid
• The degree of vacuum for degassing of liquid metal is calculated assuming that the gas in equilibrium with the liquid comes
from only one source
• For the liquid, the pressure varies along the depth of liquid metal bath because of a metallostatic head
• The value obtained is valid only if the bath is well stirred

Deoxidation of Liquid metal

 The deoxidation of liquid metal may be made more efficient by applying vacuum
 C + O = CO [Consider an iron alloy contains 0.1 % carbon and metal melted under a pressure of 10-4 atm]
 For the above reaction the equilibrium constant at 1600oC is about 420

𝟏𝟎−𝟒
%𝑶 = = 𝟐. 𝟒 𝒙 𝟏𝟎−𝟔
𝟒𝟐𝟎[%𝑪]
‘
Drying: The removal of moisture from ore, concentrate, flux or other solid materials. Concentrated ore is dried
in a kiln by passing hot air/gas; the temperature of the kiln is maintained above 100oC.
Materials containing water are encountered at various stages in the conversion processes of ore to metal.
Reasons for drying-
• The elimination of water to reduces the weight of the material handled
• If the material is charged in a high temperature furnace ( >1200oC), the sudden release of water can cause
charge blow off
• The material becomes more reactive following water removal ,in some cases, and
• Presence of water can cause undesirable side reactions leading to poor product quality and yield

MX. mH2O = MX + m(H2O) (dehydration)

Q. In flash smelting process copper concentrate used has following composition: 66% CuFeS2, 24% FeS2 and 10% SiO2. It will
form matte as well as slag. According to chemical analysis, slag contains 40% Fe; matte contains 70% Cu, 8% Fe and 22% S.
Calculate: (i) Amount of matte produced, (ii) Amount of slag formed, (iii) Amount of flux and (iv) Amount of SO2 formed
 Iron Ore
Low grade High grade

Beneficiation

Crushing/screening
Tailings Concentrate

Grinding
Additives
Additives Pelletization

Sized ore Sintering

Oxide pellets

DRI Steel Making Blast Furnace

 Advantages of Pelletization

— uniform size distribution within a main range of 9—16 mm diameter

— high and even porosity of 24-26%
— high iron content of more than 63% iron
— practically no loss on ignition or volatiles
— uniform mineralogical composition in the form of an easily reducible hematite or hematite-bearing
compounds
— high and uniform mechanical strength
— low tendency to abrasion and good behaviour during transportation
— sufficient mechanical strength even at thermal stress under reducing atmosphere.

Fe2O3 ---- Fe3O4 ------ FeO ------ Fe

Fe---- FeO ------ Fe3O4------ Fe2O3
 Mechanism of Ball Formation

A- The ore particle is coated with a water film

B- Due to the surface tension of the water film, liquid bridges

are formed

C- First agglomerates are formed as a result of the movement

of the particles inside the balling unit
 Growth of balls
A) Layering of very fine particles to others and thus formation of an agglomerate.
B) Conglomerating of smaller balls already existing resulting from relative motion and a certain pressure.
C) Layering on and incorporation of minor fragments from damaged green balls into existing sound ones.
D) Incorporation of fine-grained abraded material from weak pellets into the surface of stronger pellets.
 Induration of Green Balls
Pellets must have a substantially higher strength primarily to withstand their transportation and the stresses
occurring in metallurgical operations. Such a strength can be achieved by thermal treatment under a controlled
atmosphere or by utilizing hydraulically-acting binders.

Drying of Green Balls

During drying, the moisture contained in the green balls is evaporated by warm gases. In this connection, it should
be noted that the water may be contained in the green balls in a variety of combinations:
(a) There is water in the interstices between the particles, i.e. in the pores and capillaries.
(b) In the case of a porous ore, water may also be in the pores of the individual ore grain.
(c) Water may be chemically combined as hydrate, e.g. in limonite or in other minerals accompanying the iron oxide.
(d) Water may be incorporated into such binders which tend towards the formation of gels, e.g. clays or bentonite.
(e) Water may be chemically combined as hydrate in such binders which leads to hydrate formation, e.g. Ca(OH)2,
Mg(OH)2.
(f) Water may be present as crystal components in existing or added salts.
The moisture content in the green ball may thus be composed of water, contained in the ore, or by such being
added during pelletizing.
Only part of the water contained in the green balls evaporates at 100 °C. Salts and hydrate combinations loose their
water at higher temperatures only. The drying speed, therefore, must be adapted to the different combinations to
avoid a weakening of the pellet structure due to cracks or splintering of fragments. During drying of a pellet layer or
a pellet bed at a certain depth, two operations can be observed. Drying starts in the individual ball and uniformly
proceeds in the pellet layer
Disc Pelletiser

Disc for a green pellet production at a rate of 90-120t/h

 Drum Pelletiser

Drum Diameter Drum Length (m) Production

(m) capacity (tph)
1.8 6.1 20
2.7 9.2 80
Slope: 6o-10o
3.0 9.7 120
Rotation Speed: 8-14/min
3.7 9.8 170
 Equipments for heat hardeneing/induration of pellets
1. Vertical Shaft furnace
2. Travelling Grate/Straight Grate
3. Grate Kiln
 Sintering of iron ore

The process of sintering involves the agglomeration of ore fines to which solid fuel, fluxes and other additives may be
added. Agglomeration occurs by the reaction ingredient minerals through solid state diffusion at high temperature as well
as incipient fusion and slag bonding, which is caused by the heat produced through combustion of coke.

Important steps in the sintering process are:

• Mix preparation
• Charging of the mix
• Ignition of the top layer
• Sintering
• Cooling
 Technological Development
The technological innovations related to the development of
equipment and processes to utilize iron ore fines of different forms

1. Batch type: Sintering pot

2. Continuous type: Dwight-Lloyed Sintering Machine
 A. S. Dwight and R. L. Lloyed from United State invented a belt
type vacuum sintering machine in 1909.
 The first sintering machine was put into operation in the year
1930.
 Since then, sinter has become the widely accepted and preferred
BF burden materials
Sintering pot
Dwight-Lloyed Sintering machine
Raw mix preparation
1. Iron ore fine (-10+6.3/3 mm): a) Concentrate (the valuable), b) Middling
or low grade concentrate and c) Tailing
Iron ore is beneficiated using one or more of the following methods:
a) Gravity separation (spiral, hydro cyclone and jigs) : Difference in the
specific gravity of the iron bearing and gangue minerals.

2. Coke breeze:
3. Flux:
4. Return fines:
 Blast furnace
Outline of Blast Furnace Process
Constructional Features of BF
 Impact of operational parameter on size of BF

Parameter BFs
Small Medium Large
Inner volume (m3) 1550 3300 5700
Hearth diameter (m) 8.5 12.0 15.5
Number of tuyeres 24 32 42
Production (t/day) 3358 7150 12,350
Blast volume (Nm3/min) 2565 5500 9434
Blast volume/tuyere (Nm3/min) 106 172 232
Injection rate (kg/thm) 150 150 150
Injection rate/tuyere (t/h) 0.9 1.4 1.8

Operational features of some modern BF in the world

 Blast Furnace Reactions
Blast furnace reactions can be divided according to different sections of the furnace
1. Stack reactions,
2. Bosh reactions,
3. Tuyere reactions or combustion zone reactions,
4. Hearth reactions.