Production of Metallic Iron from Mbalam Iron Ores Using Carbon from End-Of-Life Vehicle Tyre and Plastics as A Reducing Agent

Abstract

Four samples of iron ores were collected from Mbalam, which is located in the South-East of Cameroon where there are many rich iron ore deposits. In this work, investigation on the nature of Mbalam iron ores and the potential for production of premium grade metallic iron from them is studied using end-of-life tyres (ELTs) and end-of-life plastics (PET) as carbonaceous materials. The ores were characterised by mineralogical analysis, X-ray fluorescence analysis (XRF), X- ray diffraction (XRD) and Scanning Electron Microscopy Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy, (SEM/EDS). The mineralogical analyses of the ores show a correlation between magnetite, sphalerite and hematite. The results from the XRF, XRD and SEM/EDS analyses reveal that iron ore 1 (M1), iron ore 2 (M2) and iron ore 5 (M5) exhibit high hematite (Fe2O3) content of 96.56 wt.%, 97.35 wt.% and 96.83 wt.% respectively with correspondingly low levels of silica of 0.46 wt.%, 1.58 wt.% and 1.58 wt.%. Iron ore 3 (M3) showed a medium hematite content of 55.10 wt.%, with relatively high SiO2 content 44.37 wt.%. Composite pellet was formed either with ELT or PET as reducing agents. M1 and M3 were mixed with ELT while M2 and M5 were mixed with PET. They were fired at different times (20, 30, 40, 50, 60 minutes) in a domestic microwave oven and after the irradiation, the extent of reduction was calculated. With ELT as reducing agent, the extent of reduction of M1 and M3 range from 54.36% to 60.37%. With PET as reducing agent, extent of reduction range from 78.48% to 93.04%. This clearly show that Mbalam iron ores have the potential to produce metallic iron using end-of-life polymers (PET) and end-of –life tyre (ELT) as reductants