Kinetics of the Volume Shrinkage of a Magnetite/Carbon Composite Pellet during Solid-State Carbothermic Reduction

Abstract

The volume shrinkage evolution of a magnetite iron ore/carbon composite pellet during solid-state isothermal reduction was investigated. For the shrinkage, the apparent activation energy and mechanism were obtained based on the experimental results. It was found that the volume shrinkage highly depended on the reduction temperature and on dwell time. The volume shrinkage of the pellet increased with the increasing reduction temperature, and the rate of increment was fast during the first 20 min of reduction. The shrinkage of the composite pellet was mainly due to the weight loss of carbon and oxygen, the sintering growth of gangue oxides and metallic iron particles, and the partial melting of the gangue phase at high temperature. The shrinkage apparent activation energy was different depending on the time range. During the first 20 min, the shrinkage apparent activation energy was 51,313 J/mol. After the first 20 min, the apparent activation energy for the volume shrinkage was only 19,697 J/mol. The change of the reduction rate-controlling step and the automatic sintering and reconstruction of the metallic iron particles and gangue oxides in the later reduction stage were the main reasons for the aforementioned time-dependent phenomena. The present work could provide a unique scientific index for the illustration of iron ore/carbon composite pellet behavior during solid-state carbothermic reduction.

Keywords

• carbon composite pellet
• direct reduction
• shrinkage
• kinetics
• rotary hearth furnace