Enrichment of Phosphorus from Iron Ore to Dicalcium-silicate Phase by Partial Reduction

Abstract

Due to the low quality of available iron ore, it is necessary to develop a new technology to produce high quality steel from ore containing a high concentration of phosphorous. In this study, we propose a new process for producing low-P steel by concentrating P in the dicalcium silicate phase through a partial reduction process. High-P iron ore was mixed with varying quantities of CaO and graphite and heated at 1573 K in an Ar atmosphere, and the obtained product was analyzed by electron probe microanalysis. It was found that in the reduced product mixture that was obtained under specific conditions of high basicity and a lower amount of added carbon, more than 95% of P was concentrated in the dicalcium silicate phase, and the P content in metallic iron was sufficiently low.