PREPARATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF IRON SINTERS FROM THE EGYPTIAN IRON ORES

Abstract

The main task of the present work is the preparation and characterization of iron sinters from the Egyptian straight run ores of El-Bahariya Oases (El-Gedida, EI-Harra, Nasser and Ghorabi), the Central Eastern Desert (Um Gha:mis El-Zarqa, Um Ghamis EI-Hammra, Abu Marawat and Um Shaddad) and Aswan (Abu• Aggag). Th's thesis deals also with exploring the possibility of utilizing the huge potential iro ore reserves in the studied localities through blending them with the currently used iron ore from Bahariya (low-Mn ore ol' El-Gedida). Blending aims mainly to obtain optimum sinters for Egyptian Iron & Steel Company (EISCO) blast furnaces. All the sinters were compared to the prepared EISCO sinter.

The study or the iron ores in reflected and transmitted light reveals that; Bahariya iron ores are composed mainly of goethite, "limonite, hematite, pyrolusite, manganite, and psilomelane with minor amounts of calcite, quartz, and pyrite. Aswan iron ores are composed of hematite, "limonite, goethite, quartz, calcite, and pyrite while the BiF of the Central Eastern Desert (CED) is formed of magnetite, martite", hematite, quartz, calcite, pyrite, cpidote, chlorite and jasper."

Ten sinters were prepared directly from the iron ores of the previous localities. Besides, sixteen sinters were prepared from the ore blends in order to overcome the problems of some ores. All sinters were controlled by basicity (CaO/SiO,) close to 1 similar to that of EISCO

The prepared sinters are composed of magnetite, hematite, "martite, wustitc, mono- and di- calcium ferrites, Ca-magnetite, fayalite, kirschsteinite, wollastonite, pynrhotite, quartz and glass. Some of these phases (magnetite, hematite, "martite", di- calciwn ferrite and glass) were analyzed by EDAX. These phases are characterized by presence of CaO, MnO, MgO, Si0, A1O,, and Tio, in a variable amounts within their structures. The XRD data of these sinters is in a good harmony with the microscopic investigation.

The relationships between the basicity and the mineralogical composition and the physical properties of the sinters were also studied. Effects the mineralogical composition on the physical properties and reducibility of the sinters ere also discussed.