Mineralization mechanism of limonitic laterite sinter under different fuel dosage: Effect of FeO

Abstract

To ensure the strength of limonitic laterite sinters, more fuel needs to be added to the sintering process. Higher content of FeO, which was found to be an important factor affecting the sintering mineralization, would be produced inevitably at higher fuel dosage, while it has received less attention in the sintering process of limonitic laterite. In this study, the mineralization mechanism of the limonitic laterite sinters with different FeO content was explored by controlling fuel dosage in the sintering process. The results indicated that the increase of FeO contributed to improving the yield and quality index and had little adverse influence on the metallurgical properties of the sinters. Increasing the FeO content in the sinter was helpful to the formation of high-iron and needle-like SFCA-I (composite calcium ferrite composed of SiO2, Fe2O3, FeO, CaO, and Al2O3), which had lower formation temperature and could enhance the strength of the sinter.