Cold bonded pelletization of iron ore fines

Cold bonding processes have been developed with a view to conserve energy in pellet hardening step. The incorporation of the reductant and fluxes in the pellet also ensures a blast furnace burden that is hanogeneous with resultant smooth operations of the furnace. The present paper deals with the studies conducted on tha production of ccmposite iron are pellets using iron are fines, leco char. hydrated lime and natural silica flour as well as rice husk silica. The results indicate that the composite pellets with rice husk has superior strength compared to the pellets with natural crystalline form of silica. Studies on CaO-HZD-rice husk silica reaction systffil revealed that a gel like calciun silicate hydrate (CSH-I) is formed during the steaming operation that is responsible for the strengthaning of the composite pellet. The studies on the kinetics of the hydrothermal reaction revealed that the reaction is diffusion controlled and the product fanned is calcium silicate hydrate. The reducibility studies indicated good reducibility with minimun swelling