Characterisation of the Physical and Metallurgical Properties of Natural Iron Ore for Iron Production

Table 3

Preferred characteristics for iron ore lumps used for blast furnace (BF) and direct reduction (DR) processes and the characteristics of Muko iron ores.

Reduction processes, iron ores	Chemical composition (%)					Physical properties		Reducibility (%/min)	References
	Fe	SiO2	Al2O3	S	P	Tumble Index; (%  + 6.75 mm)	Abrasion Index (%  −5 mm)
BF Process	≥58 (L); ≥65 (P)	<6 (L)	3-4 (L)	0.1 (L); 0.05 (P)	<0.07 (L)	>70 (L); >93–95 (P)	<5–10 (L); <7 (P)	0.5–1.0 (L)	[2, 6, 9, 10];
		<4 (P)			<0.02 (P)			0.8–1.4 (P)
		<6 (S)			<0.05 (S)			1.1–1.4 (S)
DR Process:
Midrex	66–68 (L)	(≤3-4)^* L		≤0.025 (L)	0.03–0.06 (L)	≥85 (L)	≤5 (L)
	67–69 (P)	(≤4)^* P		≤0.008 (P)	≤0.03 (P)	≥90–95 (P)	≤3-4 (P)	0.92 (L)	[8, 11–13]
HYL III	≥64 (L)	(≤4)^* L, P		0.005 (L)	≤0.05 (L, P)	≥90 (L)	≤10 (L)	≥0.4 (L, P)
	≥66 (P)			0.011 (P)		≥95 (P)	≤5 (P)		[8, 14]
SL/RN	≥65–67 (L)	(≤2-3)^* L		≤0.02 (L)	≤0.04 (L)	≥88 (L)	≤5 (L)	≥0.5-0.6 (L)	[11, 14]
Ug1	68.4	0.96	0.58	<0.001	<0.02	89.72	0.83	—	[6], ps^**
Ug2	67.9	0.80	0.65	0.002	0.02	88.45	1.50	—
Ug3	68.7	0.41	0.35	0.006	0.02	91.68	0.54	—
Ug4	69.0	0.62	0.43	0.001	<0.02	90.30	0.88	—
Ug5	67.5	1.20	1.00	<0.001	0.05	92.96	3.41	—
Ug6	60.6	5.10	6.00	0.003	0.2	89.28	0.67	0.868

^*(SiO₂ + Al₂O₃), ^**ps: present study, L: Lump iron ore, P: Pellet, and S: Sinter.