Study on Hydrogen Reduction Kinetics of Iron Oxide by-Product from Steel Industry
摘要
Hydrogen treatment of industrial wastes to obtain beneficiated products is one of the futuristic avenues of steel industry. Present work elucidates the reduction of iron oxide by-product generated from steel industry in the presence of hydrogen gas. Experiments are performed at bulk scale in the temperature range of 750 °C to 1050 °C for a reaction time of 10 min to 240 min. Isothermal kinetic evaluation studies reveal that the reduction from hematite to iron proceeds by a phase boundary reaction control mechanism with an activation energy of 21.7–29.7 kJ/mol. Physico-chemical analysis and morphology studies reveal that the pseudo particle nature of feed with fine particle size, high surface area of intermediate products, and porous morphology of product iron contributes for the reduction to proceed by reaction control. Iron powders with high purity (Fe(T)-97.37 to 98.01 wt %), fine size (D50-25 to 35 µm), and high surface area (0.274 to 0.648 m2/g) are synthesized. This work brings in a sustainable prospect of valorization of iron oxide by-product from steel industry to make a commercially viable iron powder product.
Graphical Abstract