Rate of the reduction of the iron oxides in red mud by hydrogen and converted gas

Abstract

The drying and gas reduction of the iron oxides in the red mud of bauxite processing are studied. It is shown that at most 25% of aluminum oxide are fixed by iron oxides in this red mud, and the other 75% are fixed by sodium aluminosilicates. A software package is developed to calculate the gas reduction of iron oxides, including those in mud. Small hematite samples fully transform into magnetite in hydrogen at a temperature below 300°C and a heating rate of 500 K/h, and complete reduction of magnetite to metallic iron takes place below 420°C. The densification of a thin red mud layer weakly affects the character and temperature range of magnetizing calcination, and the rate of reduction to iron decreases approximately twofold and reduction covers a high-temperature range (above 900°C). The substitution of a converted natural gas for hydrogen results in a certain delay in magnetite formation and an increase in the temperature of the end of reaction to 375°C. In the temperature range 450–550°C, the transformation of hematite into magnetite in red mud pellets 1 cm in diameter in a converted natural gas is 30–90 faster than the reduction of hematite to iron in hydrogen. The hematite-magnetite transformation rate in pellets is almost constant in the temperature range under study, and reduction occurs in a diffusion mode. At a temperature of ∼500°C, the reaction layer thickness of pellets in a shaft process is calculated to be ∼1 m at a converted-gas flow rate of 0.1 m3/(m2 s) and ∼2.5 m at a flow rate of 0.25 m3/(m2 s). The specific capacity of 1 m2 of the shaft cross section under these conditions is 240 and 600 t/day, respectively. The use of low-temperature gas reduction processes is promising for the development of an in situ optimum red mud utilization technology.