DEVELOPMENT OF IRON ORE SINTERING MACHINE FOR BLAST FURNACE OPERATION

Abstract

There must be proper means to sinter an agglomerated iron ore concentrate before it can be further processed into the blast furnace. Sintering machine of 5kg capacity of agglomerated ore was designed and fabricated using mild steel and other materials, which were locally sourced. The machine was fabricated with combustion chamber of 30 cm by 30 cm and with 15cm depth. It was also lined with refractory material of thickness 75mm to reduce the volume of chamber from 27,000cm3 to 3,375 cm3. The sintering chamber was designed to have a truncated square pyramid shape from the volume of 5066 cm3 2,150 cm3 after lining with refractory material. The machine was fabricated to utilize coke and palm kernel shell char as fuel to produce heat into the sintered material by suction of the heat into the agglomerated sintered ore. Tumbler index, abrasion and porosity tests were carried out on the sintered products in accordance with ASTM E276 and E389 standard. The results from the test gave tumbler index of 70.2% and 65.7% for coke and palm kernel shell respectively. Also, abrasion index of 5.1% and 4.6% for coke and palm kernel shell, and porosity of 6.8% and 6.5% for coke and palm kernel shell respectively. The results obtained from were in agreement with other research works. Therefore, the developed iron ore sintering machine has been efficient for producing sinter for blast furnace operation