Charcoal Use in Chromite Pellets - Effect on Sintering Process, Pellet Properties, and Electrical Conductivity

Ferrochrome is produced by carbothermic reduction of chromite raw materials. Chromite fines need to be agglomerated before they can be utilized. Typically, chromite fines are fed to the smelting furnace in a form of sinter or sintered pellets. Sintering requires high temperatures, which is generated by burning carbon-bearing materials. Usually, coke is used as a fuel in chromite pellet sintering, which results in SOX and CO2 emissions. Using low-sulfur biofuel to substitute coke is an attractive technique for reducing SOX and CO2. In this paper, coke substitution with charcoal in chromite pellet sintering is studied. The results show that coke substitution with charcoal affects the sintering behavior, cold compression strength, and electrical conductivity of the chromite pellets. The suitable replacing proportion of charcoal according to studies made in this paper will be 50%.