Pelletization characteristics of artificial and natural magnetite and their mixtures

Abstract

In this study, the effects of various characteristics of artificial and natural magnetite concentrates on their pelletizing behaviors were elucidated through batch pelletizing experiments. The results showed that artificial magnetite concentrates exhibit higher hydrophilicity and lower electronegativity compared with natural magnetite concentrates. Additionally, scanning electron microscopy of magnetite particles demonstrated that the surface of artificial magnetite particles was rougher than that of natural magnetite particles, which causes the artificial magnetite to have a larger specific surface area compared with natural magnetite. Pelletizing experiments indicated that the compressive strength of artificial magnetite green pellets was higher than that of natural magnetite green pellets. However, the shock temperature of artificial magnetite green pellet was only 255°C, which is far lower than the requirements of industrial production. It was found that when the pelletizing raw materials were mixed to consist of 20% artificial magnetite and 80% natural magnetite, the ballability increased significantly.