Abstract:
The nature of Opon Mansi iron ore and its ability to be reduced by the carbonaceous
material generated from end-of-life vehicle tyre (ELT) was investigated in this work.
Pulverised samples of the ores were subjected to X-ray fluorescence (XRF), X-ray
diffraction (XRD) and Scanning Electron Microscopy-Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy
(SEM/EDS) analysis to characterize the ore. XRF, XRD and SEM-EDS analysis revealed
that the Opon Mansi iron ore used in the studies was a low grade hematite iron ore
with 41.07% Fe2O3 (28.75% Fe), with the presence of gangue minerals (19% Al2O3
and 24.97% SiO2) and deleterious elements (0.03% sulfur and 0.05% phosphorous).
Pudo non-magnetic ore because of its fluxing materials (MgO and CaO) was blended
with with the Opon Mansi iron ore to improve on the extent of reduction.
Carbonaceous material was obtained from ELTs by pulverising charred ELTs.
Reduction studies was conducted on composite pellets formed from mixture of the
iron ore containing charred ELT and binder in a domestic microwave oven and the
extent of reduction was calculated after microwave irradiation for 20, 30, 40, 50 and
60 minutes. The extent of reduction at 60 minutes was 94.49%. Gas reduction studies
was also conducted on the pellets in a horizontal resistance tube furnace to study the
amount of gases that were evolved in the reduction of the ore. The extent of reduction
was also calculated from amount of gases that were evolved. XRF, XRD and SEM-EDS
analysis was conducted on the reduced iron ore and ELT composite pellet. Hematite
was completely reduced to metal iron at 60 minutes. The reducted metal contained
75% Fe which indicates that ELT is a potential replacement for metallurgical coke
