As one of the main components of ironmaking equipment such as blast furnaces, iron ore pellets affect the efficiency of these processes. Having a uniform size range and open pores iron ore pellets has a lot of advantages like a high mechanical strength resulting in good transporting possibilities or a good permeability. These pellets are essentially agglomerated iron ore, whose tumbling index is better than that of the iron ore parent material. They are produced by mixing several ingredients such as iron ore, limestone, betonite and dolomite at high temperatures around 1300°C. Perantech has been working in this field for many years and is proud to supply the know-how and all the necessary equipment for iron ore pellets.
Pelletizing plants are usually located in mines, ports, or are connected to steel plants and usually comprise four process steps. Depending on the location, these plants receive their raw materials by rail or slurry pipelines from mines in the immediate vicinity or from various mines in the surrounding area. Importing iron ore by ship is also possible, which is why many pelletizing plants are also located at the port. For further processing, the delivered raw material must undergo pre-treatment processes such as concentrating, dewatering, grinding, drying and prewetting. Depending on the nature of the iron ore, which may be magnetic or low-grade, various grinding processes are considered. Binders such as clay, lime or bentonite are also added to increase the wet strength of the kale and improve its handling. The pre-wetted material is then formed into green balls in balling equipment. Common equipment for this process includes the balling drum and the disk pelletizer. The disk pelletizer has a lower capacity than the drum, but forms balls of a more uniform size and reduces the number of return pallets. In the final step, the pellets are baked, which binds the hematite particles. There are different systems for this, such as vertical shaft kiln, straight/traveling grate system, or grate kiln-cooler system.
