The Study on the Reducibility of Itakpe Iron Ore Lumps

Abstract

The study on the reducibility on the Itakpe iron ore lumps were carried out. The chemical compositions, structural analysis and morphological structures of the ores were examined. Some analytical instruments and equipment were used to determine the Thermogravimetry (TG), the Differential Thermal Analyzer (DTA), the X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) and X-Ray Diff action (XRD). Optical Microscopy and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) with Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS) were also used for further analyses .The reducibility study was performed in the laboratories of the Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria. A muffle furnace with model number LABE 1210, Divine international. The heating capacity of 1500 ͦC as the heating device was used for the experiments. The samples were heated to temperature range from 800 ͦC to 1000 ͦC with temperature interval of 40 ͦC .The duration allowed for each of the experiments ranged from 20 minutes to 120minutes and also allowed interval time of 20 minutes. The iron ore lumps were taken inside six stainless steel containers with diameter 0.675cm x 0.594cm inside diameter with the mouths tightly closed with air tight covers for gas escape, the metallurgical coking coal obtained from the Ajaokuta Steel Company Limited was used as a reducing agents . The highest reduction value of Itakpe iron ore lump was obtained at 74.3% with corresponding temperature at 1000 ͦC at time rate of 120minutess. The (SEM) and (EDS) were used to determine the iron (Fe) content after the reducibility tests were performed. Some recommendations and contributions from the research work was stated to assist the would - be researchers in this field of study.