PELLETISATION

Pelletisation essentially consists of'formation of green by rolling a fine iron bearing material with a critical amount of water and to which an external binder or any other additive may be added if required' These green balls of nearly 5-20 mm size are then dried, preheated and fired, all under oxiclizing conditior.rs- to a temperature of around 1250-1350 "c. Bonds of good strength are developed between the particles at such high teniperatures. The sensible heat of the exhaust gases is recovered and is fed back in the induration operatior. The pelletisation process consists o1.the following steps
LFeecl Operation 2.Green ball production and sizing.
:

l.Gleerr balI indrrratiorr:

Drr inc
Pre-heating

Firing J.Coolins of hardenecl pellets

2.5.1 Theorl'of Bonding
:

Production of hardened pellets starts \\'ith the production of green balls in the first place.it is necessarY that the sreen balls possess adequate strength to stand bumps. overlying load and abrasion during screening and handling until finally these are hardened by induration. The nature of bond and how these are formed need to properly understood for proper designing

of

the

equipment and the process pelletisation. The observation on ball lbilIation that evenluallv led to the development of the theory of balli,g are as fbllows:

l.

Dry material does not pelletize and presence of moisture is essential to roll the powder in to balls. Excessive w.ater is also detrimental.

2.
3.

Surface tension of water in contacl with the particles plal's a dominant role in binding the

particles together.

Rolling of moist material leads to the lbrmation of balls ol very high densities which
otherwise attainable by compacting powder only under the application of a very high
presslll e:

4.

The ease w.ith which material can be rolled in to balls is alrnost clirectll' proportional to
the surface area of particles. i.e. its flneness.

From fundarnental studies it has becn concluded that

systems.

1l-rere

are three deterent w.ater-parlicle

1.
2.

The

pendular state. when water is present just at the point ol'contact of tl're particles and

surface tension holds the particleri together.

The.funiculur state, when some pores are lully occupied by r,vater in an aggregate system. The capillary state. u,l,er-r all the pores are filled with water
cuvering the entiie :;uriace oi'tire particies.
br-rt

J.

there is no coherent fllm

The bond strength under these three condition have been matl,ematically evah-rated and.
based on these fonnulae. equation to calcnlate the ball strength have been developed b,v sonte

workers. Besides the bond fbrnted due to surf-ace tension mechanical interlocking of particles
also pays a significant role in developing the ball strength.

Maximum strength of green ball produced fiom a given material rvill be obtained by
compacting the material to the minintum porosity ancl with iust sutficient water to saturate

the voids. The rolling action during palletisation is ber-reficial in reducir-rg the internal pore
space

by eff-ecting compaction ancl mechanical interlocking of the particles. The water

content is. therefore, quite critical to obtain good quality balls. 2.5.2 Mechanism of Ball Formation
:

The ball formation is a two stage process. nucleation or seed fbrmation and their growth.

-fhe

formation of balls on a pelletiser depends primarily on the ntoisture content.

If

moisture is

less than the critical amount its distribution tends to be non-unifbrm, rna.ior antount being

present

in the

granulated tnaterial leaving the non-granr:lated material relatively dry.

If

lnoisture level more than the critical value, growlh rate is the more but the balls produced are liable to defbrmation because of their plasticity. Seeds are formed only

if critical

moisture

level is maintained and witl-rout which the process cannot proceed properly. The generally
have slight excess of water.

It

has been observe that the size of the balls produced in a pelletiser

from a charge containing

right amount of rnoisture depends on the time and speed of the pelletiser, i.e. number of
revolution. In which three regiotls carl be clearl1, observed.

1. Nucleii fbnnation

region

2. Transition regior-r 3. Ball growth region

2.5.3 Nucleii Grorvth Region

\\'hen a \\et particle contes in contact uith ar-iother \\.et or drr particle a bor-rd is imntediatell
tbrmed benleen the tuo. Sereral
sr"rch

panicles initialll' join during rolling to tbrm a highll

porous loosell'held aggregate and crumbs rihich undergo re- arrangement and par-ticle
packing in short duration to lorm small spherical, stable nuclei.

2.5.{ Transition Period

After nuclei are formed thel pass through a transition period in u,hich the plastic nuclei
present in them. The s)'stem ",oid move perpendicular state through funicular state to the capillary state of bonding.

further re-arrange and compacted to eliminate tl-re air

2.5.5 Ball Growth Region

The plastic and relatively wet granules grow

if they are favour-ably

oriented. This process

some granules may even brake of impacts. abrasion. etc.

1.

Growth by assimilation is possible when balling proceeds without the addition of fiesh feed
material.

2.

Growth by layering is possible when balling proceeds with the addition of fiesh feed
material.

2.5.6 Crorvth by Assimilation

If no fresh feed material is aclded for balling tl're rolling action may break some of the granuies. particularly the small ones. and the it will grow, The bigger the ball the iarger it will grow under these conditions. Since smaller granr.rles are rveaker the-v arre the flrst victirn and growth of the
bigger balls takes place at their expense. 2.5.7 Growth by Layering

Growth

o1-

seeds

is said to be taking place by layering when the balls pick up material while
directly,'

rolling on a layer of fresh fbed. The an.lount of rnaterial picked up by the balls is
actual size. 2.5.8 Green Ball Production
Green ball agglomerates are economically produced

proportional to the its exposed surf'ace. the increase in the size of the balls is independent of their

in balling druns or discs and rarely in other

specialised equipment. tl-re rolling action of the equipnrent is chielly responsible in compacting

the flne particle in to a near sphericaI shape: the presencc of critical amour-rt ol u'atcr develops

the necessary strength

in

green balls. The balling equipment should, therefore, produced

maximum of rolling motion of particles. Particularly as they grow. The balling equipment would
required a rotating surfbce where the pellet mix is 1'ed.faciiities fbr addition of moisture. removal

of balls of desired size and recirculation of the undersize

the pelletiser.

ancl oversize shor-rld be provided with

2.6 Disc Pelletizer

It is essentially a disc, with

atr outwardl,"- sloping pcripheral wall. u,hich is rotated. around its

own centre, in an inclirTed position to horizontal. These discs resemble flying saucers and are Normally 3.6-5.6m in dia and are inclined at abor-rt 45 degree to the lTorizontal. The rnaterial to
be palletised is generally fed

directly on to the disc

ar-rd

moisture level is rnade up with the help

olwater sprays. Scraper is provided to prevent

control the material llow'patterns on the disc.

bLrild-Lrp

of rnoist material on the disc. It can also

Drying:
The green balls are dried by passing hot air through the bed of the balls laid on a grate. The temperature of the hot blast and volume requirecl tbr drying are largely a function of the moisture content of green balls and the nature of the ore from the balls are made. Specular hematite decrepitate at tetnperatures in excess of nearly 300 degree and hence these should be clried as rvell below this temperatute. on the contrary natural magnetite may safely be dried at even 475degee' Llse the binder increases the highest safe permissible temperature fbr drying the depth of bed has to be suitably fixed to avoid condensation of moisture from gases in the cold zone. Pre-heating and firing:
The hardened pellets shor-rlcl not only possess the optimum mechanical properties in the oxidised states but more so while these are being reduced in the blast furnace. The firing cycle should airn in this directiolr in dereloping the required nature and strength of the bo,ds. The role of additives has to be rieued tl'orll this point of riex. .\s in sintering the solid states bond(cn.stal grouth) and the slag bond (due to nteit fortnation)ntar be fomred during firing.

Induration of Pellets
J-hese green

balls fl'orn the pelletization plant are sent to the indr-rratio. pla,t rihere these are sub-iected to dr'i,g' pre-heating. firing ancl cooiing. For this purpose the peliets are sr:bjected to
a

cle depending upon the of balling process. the 'ariables r.llineralogical tlature of tlle rar'r'materials. the type of bonds to be developed and so on. The balls attain a maxintutr telllpel'ature dLrring the firing operation. The time tbr which the balls are subjected to this depends mair-rly on the quality of the peilets ultimately required. The heat
cr

contit.tt'totts heating

and cooling

recovered during cooling of the pellets is variably utilised in drying the pellets. Three diflerent types of heat harclening equipments are in commercial use at present time
1.

'Ihe vertical shaft furnace

2. The travelling grates

3. The grate kiln.

2.7 ADVAN'I'ACES OF' PEI,LE'I'S:

Irotr ore pellet is a kincl o1'aggIomerateci fines u,hich has betl.er tr-rmbling index as compared

1tr

that o1'parent ore and cair be used as a substitute Ibr the same. Iron ore pellets are being used for'

long in biast firrnaces in many countries whelc: lump iron orc' is not availablc. ln Inclia. the
necessitv of pelletisation is realizecl because of several l'errsous ancl adr,antages. The cxcessive

fines generated liom the iron ore mining ancl crushir-is

sizing the t-eed fbr blast fllnace 'Iechnologv and sponge iron ore plants are rrostly un-utilized. Pelletisation is the onll route tltat
r-rr-rits 1'or

is going to dominate the Intlian steel industry in futurc. Pellets har e:

Good Reducibility:
Because

ol'thcir higir porosity that is (2-5-30%). pellets are usualll'

rec'luced

considerabl\ faster

than hard burden sinter or harcl natural ores/lurnp ores.

Good Bed Permeability:

fheir spherical shapes ernd containing open pores. gives thern good
ctf repose

becl penneabilitl,.

l.olr

angle

houcver is a clrar,vback lor pellet

ancl creates uucverl lrincler ciistriLrLrtion.

Iligh unifornr Porosiry- (25-30"1,):

Because

of high urrifbrm porosity o1'pellets. faster reduction ancl high nretallization takes placr:.

hcat consumption than sintering. Aprprox. 35-40% less heat required than sinterino
Less

[Jnif<rrm chemical composition:rnd very lorv LOI: '['he cheniical analysis is to a degree ctxtxrllarble in tlre conccnlr;Lti()n ploccssing r,r'iihin linrits
dictatecl bv econonrics.
IrT

rezrlitv no LOI nral<es thcnr cost efltctivc'.

Easy handling and trzrnsportation.

Unlike Sinter. frellets have high strelgth snd can hc trapspgrtcd to lopg clistanccs without
fine gencration. It has also good resislance to clisintegration.

i-