Production of reduced iron from mill scale waste using tilting rotary furnace

Abstract

The production of steel in steel mills generates undesired scales of oxidized iron on the surface of the hot steel. Although several attempts have been made to transform mill scale into valuable products, the low porosity of the oxides and the presence of oil contamination have been the main limitations in pelletizing the scales. In our recent research, we were able to produce reduced iron in the form of spheres with a 93% metallization degree using only mill scale as a source of iron without the need for any agglomeration or cleaning steps. The main equipment used in the production process was a tilting rotary furnace. We also examined the relationship between fuel consumption and the metallization degree of the reduced iron, as well as the effect of furnace RPM on the cross-sectional diameter of the produced spheres. By adjusting the process parameters, we were able to produce spheroidal iron with a cross-sectional diameter ranging from 10 mm to 400 mm. This high-quality reduced iron can be directly used as a replacement for DRI or scrap in traditional steel production methods.

Keywords

• Reduced iron
• Mill scale
• Waste
• Rotary furnace
• Iron and steel