Oxidative modification of industrial basic oxygen furnace slag for recover iron-containing phase: Study on phase transformation and mineral structure evolution

Abstract

Basic oxygen furnace (BOF) slag is the main co-product in the steelmaking process, its recycling within the iron and steel enterprises is crucial for the industry to ensure greater sustainability. According to the composition characteristics of BOF slag, a method of separating and recovering iron resources by regulating the composition of BOF slag with silica as an additive at high temperature was proposed. In this study, the growth of iron-containing phase during oxidative modification of BOF slag was in-situ observed by ultra-high-temperature confocal scanning laser microscope, and the phase transformation and mineral structure evolution were analyzed by chemical analysis, X-ray diffraction and field emission scanning electron microscopy. The results demonstrated that the increase of oxidation temperature effectively promoted the transformation of iron oxides to (Mg,Fe2+)O·Fe2O3, but too high temperature could lead to the increase of iron-containing melilite phase and reduce the iron recovery. In the oxidative modification process, the appropriate holding time and cooling mode facilitated the growth and development of (Mg,Fe2+)O·Fe2O3 particles, which was conducive to the separation and recovery of iron resources. After BOF slag was oxidized at 1300 ℃ for 240 min and cooled in the furnace (1 ℃/min), the grade of magnetic slag obtained by magnetic separation had a grade of 40.26%, a recovery of 70.95%, and a P and S content of 0.042 and 0.456, respectively, which may be used as an important supplement to the raw materials for sintering. The regulated secondary slag may be used to diversify into higher value-added production. Therefore, the systematic research and development of oxidative modification-crushing-magnetic separation technology may promote the efficient utilization of BOF slag components and heat energy.