Development of advanced sensor-based technique for iron-ore beneficiation.

Abstract

Today's mining and mineral processing industry is facing increasing challenges such as low-grade ore reserves, high energy costs, water shortages and stringent environmental legislation. In order to efficiently exploit minerals such as iron ores or other minerals and ores, useful ore needs to be separated from any undesired particles during processing. This project aims to deal with a technique for sorting of alumina-rich Indian iron ore through non-invasive infrared (IR) thermography technique. For an efficient operation of blast furnace, alumina present in the ore should be less than 2%. In general, Indian iron ores contain more than 2% alumina and hence it is necessary to reduce the same in the ore for feeding to the blast furnace. This project will develop a technique to identify alumina rich iron ores by observing the temperature profile of these ores and rejecting them to improve the feed quality of the blast furnace in Iron & Steel industry.