Pelletizing

Pelletizing is the process of compressing or molding a material into the shape of a pellet A wide range of different materials are pelletized including chemicals, iron ore, animal compound feed, and more.

Pelletizing of iron ore

pellets as used in the steelmaking industry, with a US Quarter shown to scale.]] Iron ore pellets are spheres of typically to be used as raw material for blast furnaces. They typically contain 67%-72% Fe and various additional material adjusting the chemical composition and the metallurgic properties of the pellets. Typically limestone, dolostone and olivine is added and Bentonite is used as binder.

The process of pelletizing combines mixing of the raw material, forming the pellet and a thermal treatment baking the soft raw pellet to hard spheres. The raw materials is rolled into a ball, then fired in a kiln to sinter the particles into a hard sphere.

The configuration of iron ore pellets as packed spheres in the blast furnace allows air to flow between the pellets, decreasing the resistance to the air that flows up through the layers of material during the sme The configuration of iron ore powder in a blast furnace is more tightly-packed and restricts the air flow. This is the reason that iron ore is preferred in the form of pellets rather than in the form of finer particles.

Preparation of raw materials

Additional materials are added to the iron ore (pellet feed) to meet the requirements of the final pellets. This is done by placing the mixture in the pelletizer, which can hold different types of ores and additives, and mixing to adjust the chemical composition and the metallurgic properties of the pellets. In general, the following stages are included in this period of processing: concentration / separation, homogenization of the substance ratios, milling, classification, increasing thickness, homogenization of the pulp and filtering.

Formation of the raw pellets

The formation of raw iron ore pellets, also known as pelletizing, has the objective of producing pellets in an appropriate band of sizes and with mechanical properties hig usefulness during the stresses of transference, transport, and use. Both mechanical force and thermal processes are used to produce the correct pellet properties From equipment point of view there two alternatives for industrial production of iron ore pellets: drum and pelletizing disk.

Thermal processing

In order to confer to the pellets high resistance metallurgic mechanics and appropriate characteristics, the pellets are subjected to thermal processing, which involves stages of drying, daily pay burn, burn, after-burn and cooling (in a cooling tower). The duration of each stage and the temperature that the pellets are subjected to have a strong influence on the final product quality.

Pelletizing of animal feeds

s]] Pelletizing of animal feeds can result in pellets from (shrimp feeds), through to (poultry feeds) up to (stock feeds). The pelletizing of stock feed is done with the pellet mill machinery, which is done in a feed mill.

Preparation of raw ingredients

Feed ingredients are normally first hammered to reduce the particle size of the ingredients. Ingredients are then batched, and then combined and mixed thoroughly by a feed mixer. Once the feed has been prepared to this stage the feed is ready to be pelletized.

Formation of the feed pellets

Pelletizing is done in a pellet mill, where feed is normally conditioned and thermal treated in the fitted conditioners of a pellet mill. The feed is then pushed through the holes and a pellet die and exit the pellet mill as pelleted feed.

After pelleting processes

After pelleting the pellets are cooled with a cooler to bring the temperature of the feed down. Other post pelleting applications include post-pelleting conditioning, sorting via a screen and maybe coating if required.

Gallery

See also

Granule

Blast furnace

Iron ore

Nurdle

Pellet

Pellet mill

Spheronisation

References

Category:Iron Category:Livestock Category:Metallurgical processes