SINTERING

Sintering is a technology for agglomeration of iron ore fines into useful

Blast Furnace burden material. This technology was developed for the
treatment of the waste fines in the early 20th century. Since then sinter
has become the widely accepted and preferred Blast Furnace burden
material. Presently more than 70% of hot metal in the world is produced
through the sinter. In India, approximately 50% of hot metal is produced
using sinter feed in Blast Furnaces.

The major advantages of using sinter in BFs are:

• Use of iron ore fines, coke breeze, metallurgical wastes, lime,
dolomite for hot metal production
• Better reducibility and other high temperature properties
• Increased BF productivity
• Improved quality of hot metal
• Reduction in coke rate in blast furnaces

SINTERING PROCESS - A Sinter Plant typically comprise the

following sub-units as shown below.
The raw materials used are as follows -
Iron ore fines (-10 mm), coke breeze (-3 mm), Lime stone & dolomite
fines (-3mm) and other metallurgical wastes. The proportioned raw
materials are mixed and moistened in a mixing drum. The mix is loaded
on sinter machine through a feeder onto a moving grate (pallet) and then
the mix is rolled through segregation plate so that the coarse materials
settle at the bottom and fines onto the top.

The top surface of the mix is ignited through stationary burners at

1200oC. As the pallet moves forward, the air is sucked through wind box
situated under the grate. A high temperature combustion zone is created
in the charge -bed due to combustion of solid fuel of the mix and
regeneration of heat of incandescent sinter and outgoing gases. Due to
forward movement of pallet , the sintering process travels vertically
down. The different zones created on a sinter-bed are shown in the
adjoining figure.

Sinter is produced as a combined result of locally limited melting , grain

boundary diffusion and recrystallization of iron oxides.

On the completion of sintering process, finished sinter cake is crushed

and cooled. The cooled sinter is screened and + 6 mm fraction is
dispatched to blast furnace and -6 mm is recirculate as return sinter.

Sintering
Iron ore sintering consists of heating a layer of fines until partial melting
occurs and individual ore particles fuse together. For this purpose, a
traveling-grate machine is used, and the burning of fine coke (known as
coke breeze) within the ore generates the necessary heat. Before being
delivered to the sinter machine, the ore mixture is moistened to cause
fine particles to stick to larger ones, and then the appropriate amount of
coke is added.
Coke breeze
A by-product of coke manufacture; it is the residue from the screening of
heat-treated coke. The particle size is less than 10 mm. Generally, coke
breeze has a volatile matter content of <3 wt. %.

The sintering process is the combination of the blended ore, flux, coke breeze,
after mixing and granulation, then charged into the sintering machine and
completed the sintering process by the suction fan, then through cooling and
screening process, the product of sinter will be transported to BF as the main
source of iron-contained material.

Why sinter?
Sintering is the agglomeration of fi ne-grained iron ores for blast furnace
burden preparation. Manganese ores can also be sintered before smelting in
the electric arc furnace. Sintering produces a feed of extremely consistent
quality in terms of its:
• Chemical composition
• Grain size distribution
• Reducibility
• Sinter strength

Our sintering process begins with the preparation of raw mix from iron ores,
fluxes, implant dust and spillage fines, solid fuel and return fines. These
materials are mixed and granulated in one or more stages. Water is added in
order to assist the raw mix in obtaining optimum permeability for lower
electricity consumption, maintained by conveying the raw mix carefully onto
the sinter machine. Its surface is then ignited, air being induced through the
ignited layer and sintering proceeding in the vertical direction in the sinter
strand’s material bed. Subsequently, the sinter is cooled, usually in a separate
sinter cooler positioned at the sinter machine’s discharge outlet.
The cooled sinter is crushed to a pre-determined maximum particle size.
Undersized sinter that is not suitable for the blast furnace is recycled to the
return fines bin. A certain quantity, usually 15–25 mm, is screened out and
recirculates to the sinter machine, where it serves as a hearth layer, protecting
the grate bars of the pallets during the sintering process. The product obtained
from the process is a blast furnace feed of superior quality.

Environmental safety
Sinter plants are designed to meet the most stringent environmental
regulations. For effective dust collection, electrostatic precipitators
and/or bag filters dedust the sinter waste gas and air from the room
dedusting system. We provide processes for limiting dioxin, SOx and
NOx emissions, while incorporating noise attenuation devices to meet
local regulations.
Lurgi Traveling Grate
Our solution for sinter machine is a Lurgi Traveling Grate consisting of an endless
chain of pallets. Its feeding station ensures a continuous supply of hearth layer
and feed mix to the sinter machine. Both the feed bins for hearth layer and for
feed mix are level controlled.
Furthermore, the hearth layer bin is equipped with an adjustable, providing a
hearth layer of a predetermined height.
The feed mix hopper outlet is equipped with motorized gates for adjusting the
amount of material to be discharged via a variable speed roll feeder. Ultrasonic
sensors control the bed height level of the individually motorized gates.
The roll feeder discharges the material onto a segregation plate. This is an inclined
plate across the pallet width. Its inclination and positioning in relation to the
material flow from the roll feeder is adjustable for:
• Improved feed mix permeability, lowering power consumption
• Optimum segregation of fi ne and coarse particles
• Optimum formation of the material pile on the pallets
The variable speed roll feeder is mounted on a separate support with rails and
wheels to permit roll-in and roll-out for maintenance purposes.