Iron ore pellets including a core comprising iron ore, a first coating comprising lime, and a second coating comprising cement, wherein the first coating is disposed between a surface of the core and the second coating. A process for manufacturing the iron ore pellets whereby the first coating is applied to the core to form a coated core, the surface area coverage of the first coating is measured, the second coating is applied to the coated core, and the surface area coverage of the second coating is measure. A process for manufacturing reduced iron pellets is also provided whereby the iron ore pellets are reduced with a reducing gas at temperatures up to 1100 C.

A method of reduction of a metal oxide material and a metal material production configuration adapted for manufacture of reduced metal material, a metal oxide material production unit produces a metal oxide material holding thermal energy, a direct reduction facility is configured for introduction of a reducing agent adapted to react with the metal oxide material. The method includes the steps of; charging the metal oxide material, holding thermal energy; introducing the reducing agent; reducing the metal oxide material to reduced metal material by utilizing the thermal energy of the metal oxide material to heat or further heat the introduced reducing agent for achieving a chemical reaction; and discharging the reduced metal material from the direct reduction facility.

A direct reduction facility and a data program configured to execute an automatic or semi-automatic manufacture of reduced metal material ready to be transported to a metal production site.

The invention relates to fluxing agents for the agglomeration process based on slag from the secondary metallurgy, the use of these fluxing agents in the process of agglomeration in the manufacture of the agglomerate designed for the use as a metallic charge in blast furnaces and a process of production of fluxing agents based on slag from the secondary metallurgy or based on a mixture of slag from the secondary metallurgy with other materials.

Provided is a raw material particle for production of agglomerate that can be used to produce an agglomerate with better reducing performance than conventional agglomerates. The raw material particle 1(2) of the present disclosure is a raw material particle for producing an agglomerate as a raw material for producing reduced iron, including a central part 11(21), and a peripheral part 12(22) that covers the periphery of the central part 11(21). The central part 11 has a metal iron-containing substance, the central part 12 has a volatile substance, and the peripheral part 12(22) has iron oxide.

A reduced iron production method includes: a reduction-step of producing reduced iron by heating an agglomerate containing iron oxide and carbonaceous reducing agent to reduce the iron oxide and solidifying a product produced by melting the reduced iron; a first-magnetic-separation-step of separating, among granular metallic iron, first slag, and second slag containing more fine-granular metallic iron than the first slag that are contained in the product, at least the granular metallic iron from the first slag by use of a first magnetic separator to separate first slag containing substance and a granular metallic iron containing substance from each other; a second-magnetic-separation-step of separating the second slag from the first slag containing substance or the granular metallic iron containing substance by use of a second magnetic separator having attraction force different from attraction force of the first magnetic separator; and a crushing-step of crushing the second slag.

A hearth for a traveling hearth furnace for the production of pig iron grade nuggets, the hearth having a synthetic graphite material in direct contact with the process charge in producing a plurality of metallic iron nodules and slag. The process charge including iron containing oxide, a predetermined amount of a reductant and flux, which are carried into and through a reducing, melting and coalescing stages on the hearth, wherein resulting metallic iron nodules and slag are in direct contact with the synthetic graphite material and do not adhere to the synthetic graphite material of the hearth. The absence adherence and ease of removal minimizes any impurities in the pig iron grade nuggets and allows the hearth to be used more than one cycle without the need for any replenishment of the contact surface.

Provided is a smelting method whereby a reaction for reducing pellets, said pellet being formed by using a saprolite ore as a starting material, can be effectively conducted and thus an iron/nickel alloy having a nickel grade of, for example, 16% or greater can be obtained. The method comprises: a pellet production step (S1) for producing the pellets from the saprolite ore; and a reduction step (S2) for heating and reducing the obtained pellets in a smelting furnace. In the pellet production step (S1), at least the saprolite ore and a preset amount of a carbonaceous reducing agent are mixed together to produce the pellets. In the reduction step (S2), a hearth carbonaceous reducing agent is preliminarily spread on the hearth of the smelting furnace and the pellets produced above are placed on the hearth carbonaceous reducing agent and then subjected to a heat reduction treatment.

Heat treatment of DRI is performed in order to form a DRI product with a metallic shell around at least a portion of the DRI. The heat treatment may be delivered through the use of a plasma torch, a gas burner, an oven, or any other like heat source. The heat treatment may heat the DRI for a fraction of a second and quickly cool the DRI in order to melt the surface and form the metallic shell without vaporizing a significant portion of the DRI and without losing a significant amount of the latent energy in the DRI. During storage and transport of the DRI product, the DRI product is less likely to fracture, the DRI product has less exposed surface area of DRI, and results in reduced DRI fines and/or DRI dust cause by the DRI product rubbing together when compared to traditional types of DRI.

Disclosed herein are methods and compositions for producing composite iron pellets comprising an inner core comprising iron ore and a reducing agent comprising a carbonaceous material; and an outer shell comprising unreduced iron ore. The resulting composite iron pellets can be used to produce direct reduced iron (DRI) with improved productivity while reducing gas consumption.

A system for the production of sponge iron, the system including a direct reduction shaft including a first inlet for introduction of iron ore into the shaft, a first outlet for removing sponge iron from the shaft, a reduction gas source, connected through a gas line with the shaft, a first compressor in said gas line, and a primary circuit for conducting at least a part of the top gas therethrough. The primary circuit is connected in one end with shaft and in another end with said gas line downstream said first compressor. The system also includes a secondary circuit for conducting at least a portion of gas removed from gas conducted through the primary circuit, said secondary circuit being connected in one end to the primary circuit and in another end to said gas line upstream said first compressor. The system further includes means therein for reducing the pressure of said portion of gas conducted through the secondary circuit, and a first valve for controlling a flow of said portion of gas into the secondary circuit.