Mineralogical properties and co-sintering characteristics of fluxed iron ore with magnetite concentrates

To investigate the feasibility of co-sintering of fluxed iron ore with magnetite concentrates, the mineralogical properties of a novel fluxed iron ore were studied using particle size analysis, microscopic morphology characterization, and X-ray diffraction Rietveld analysis. Following that, the experiments for granulation performance and basic sintering characteristics were designed under seven different fluxed iron ore ratios, and the integrated ranking of different fluxed iron ore ratios was determined using gray relation analysis. Finally, the results of the industrial trails were combined with the feasibility analysis. Test and experimental results show that the fraction of the fluxed iron ore particles larger than 0.5 mm can account for more than 48%, and the particles have two morphologies: spherical-rough and flaky-smooth. Ca elements are found in the form of calcite (CaCO 3 ) and dolomite (CaMg(CO 3 ) 2 ). The average particle size of granules and powder removal rate can be improved from 2.50 to 3.16 mm and 39.60% to 24.20%, respectively, with the increase in the fluxed iron ore ratio. Furthermore, the fluxed iron ore can improve assimilability and liquid fluidity of magnetite concentrates. In terms of overall granulation performance and sintering characteristics, the fluxed iron ore ratios are graded from best to worst as follows: 12%, 15%, 9%, 18%, 21%, 6% and 3%. The industrial trails show that when the fluxed iron ore ratio is increased, the beneficial effect of the superior sintering characteristics of the fluxed iron ore itself is ideally balanced with the negative effect of the lower amount of additional CaO at 12% ratio, and thus, it is feasible to bring the fluxed iron ore into production at a level of roughly 12%.