EUROPEAN STEEL TECHNOLOGY AND APPLICATION DAYS 2017 - ESTAD 2017

The rapid growing iron and steel productions in the recent years resulted in a continuously demand for new iron ore resources. On the other hand the availability of the typical sinter feed (1-6.3 mm) has become limited and the rapid growing production resulted in more and more fine ore (< 150 μm) availability in the market. The sinter plant operators are facing several new challenges since the mixing and granulation- and the sintering behavior of the fines containing mixtures often differs from the traditional sinter feed´s behavior. The utilization of fines in the sinter plants might increase the process water consumption required for the mixing and granulation process or even the solid fuel consumption, which effects the operational cost of the plant significantly. The current study presents an overview about Outotec´s laboratory facilities and competence regarding the mixing and granulation of fines in different equipments. The usage of high intensity mixers (HIM) –vertical and horizontal as well –proved to be the most effective in case of fine ore handling. Permeability and particle size distribution curves are used to evaluate and demonstrate the efficiency of the different equipment’s. Outotec´s long-time experience with the different type of mixer and the modern laboratory facilities provide an excellent opportunities to optimize the mixing and granulation procedure and utilize up to 100 % fines in the sinter with a minimum decrease of plant productivity.