Fundamental Investigation of Ferrosilicon Production Using Rice Husk and Rubber Tree Bark at 1550°C: Implication for Utilization of Agricultural Waste in Steelmaking Industry

Abstract

Rice husk is one of the major agricultural wastes in Thailand, which predominately consist of silica up to 90 wt%. Rubber tree bark (RTB) is an agricultural waste from the harvesting of natural rubber, composed of cellulose and rubber parts, which is a carbon-based material. This research aims to investigate the possibility of using rice husk and rubber tree bark as a silica and carbon resources for producing ferrosilicon alloy. Three different types of carbon were used for the investigation: Coal, RTB and Coal-RTB blend. Rice husk ash, iron ore and carbon were blended homogeneously according to their molar ratios. The prepared samples were heated at 1550 °C in argon atmosphere for 30 minutes and thus the metal droplets were produced. The silicon contents in the produced metal droplets were analyzed by using Inductive coupled plasma (ICP). The results show that the metal produced by this method are ferrosilicon alloy with the highest silicon contents in the metal droplets was 45.32 wt% for RTB, while it was 18.25 wt% for coal. This research unlocks the potential of utilization of agricultural waste in steelmaking industry.