Reducibility of Bolani iron ores and Sinters

Reducibility characteristics of Bolani iron ores after its prior beneficiation were studied with hydrogen as a reducing agent at 800° and at 5.3 liters per minute flow rate. Reducibility tests were done on the crushed, washed and heavy media separated products at -3 + 3/8” samples. It was observed that the rate of reduction decreased as the size increases and that no marked difference in reducibility was observed in the different fractions below -2” + 3/8”. The products obtained after heavy media separation were more reducible than those from washing alone and this was attributed to the elimination of lateritic gangue. Based on the reducibility tests, it is recommended that the ore crushed to -2” + 3/8” washed and beneficiated by heavy media separation would be a suitable feed for the blast furnace. The reducibility studies on the sinter indicated that the self-fluxing sinter with the basicity of 1.3 possessed the highest reducibility.