Iron Ore Pelletization Technology and its Environmental Impact Assessment in Eastern Region of India – A Case Study
Singh G, Choudhary R, Vardhan H and Aruna M
Procedia Earth and Planetary Science 11: 582-597.2015
India
Introduction-Iron and steel Industry is one of the largest industries in India responsible for consuming major part of total energy consumption of the country. Iron Ore serves as the main raw material in Iron and steel making and India is the fourth largest producer of iron ore in the world. The eastern region itself produces 55% of total iron ore in the country. KEY FACTS Scope-This study focuses on Iron ore pelletization plants in Eastern Region of India Objectives- to access the potentials of pelletizing process of iron ore and its benefits. Problem Iron and steel industry in India cannot exploit the total production of iron ore because of its poor grade lumps unless their agglomeration likes pelletization and sintering. Because of this reason major part of the production is being exported. Steps taken to address the problem- To meet the increasing demand of industry lean-grade iron ore and mining waste which are generated at the time of extraction should be utilized effectively. Agglomeration process like Pelletization process can be helpful for the proper utilization of iron ore and mining waste. The process enables iron ore fines into a uniform sized pellets that can be charged in blast furnace or DRI production. There are many technologies in pelletization process in which Grate Kiln Process and Straight Grate Process are most used and popular worldwide with installed capacity of over 115 TPA. Majority of iron ore pellet plants based in Orissa and Jharkhand are operating the process with installed capacity of 0.07 MMT to 10 MMT. Impact on Energy Efficiency-The process has more energy efficient way, it used to go through the drying grinding and induration zones which consumes less energy than wet grinding. Grate-kiln system will have a power requirement of less than 20KWH/ton and straight grate system will use 35 KWH/ton. Commercialization potential- The process has a good commercialization potentials as it helps to reduces the requirement for spare parts which results in a low maintenance cost. Results- Pelletization thus considered as a sustainable, economical and ecofriendly process for iron ore pellet plants as it gives benefits to convert waste mining material and low grade iron ore into fine chargeable mass for Iron and steel making. The present production capacity of pelletization in eastern region is 28.7MMT which will definitely increase over the period of time after commissioning in more steel units.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1878522015001113