Study of kinetics of hydrogen reduction of iron ores by electrical conductivity method

Kinetics of hydrogen reduction of iron ores can be studied by determining the rate of reduction by hydrogen and incorporating the data on the effect of temperature, hydrogen flow rate, particle variation, and composition on the rate of reduction by measuring the water formed due to reaction and/or the loss in weight of iron ore. Changes in electrical conductivity of iron ores, during reduction by hydrogen has been utilised by the authors as a method for the determination of rate of reduction of iron ores thereby eliminating the possibilities of inaccurate measurements as involved in water collection and loss in weight methods. In this investigation, the effect of temperature on the electrical conductivity of iron ores before reduction was studied inferring that electrical resistance decreases as the temperature increases. The resistance is also found to decrease during reduction due to the formation of more metallic iron ores. (B.M. Dutta, Senior Scientific Assistant, K.N. Gupta, Scientist and A.N. Kapoor, Scientist, National Metallurgical Laboratory, Jamshedpur)