Nature of the Opon Mansi iron ore and Its response to reduction by end-of-life vehicle tyres.

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