Influence of carbon addition via Corex sludge on pellet quality at JSW steel

Pellet quality plays a significant role in the performance of the Corex process, which is, in turn, affected by the C content of the green pellets. Experiments have been conducted to study the effect of varying the C content (%) in the pellet mix on pellet quality, properties and microstructure by varying the quantity of Corex sludge. For further understanding of the phenomenon, microstructural studies have been carried out. It was observed that FeO increased with increasing C content to 1.45% in the pellet mix, thereby decreasing the cold crushing strength (CCS) of pellets to 186 kg/pellet and increasing the reduction degradation index (RDI) (-6.3 mm) of pellets to 16.3%. Superior pellet properties were obtained with the carbon in the range of 1.15-1.2% in the pellet mix.