Egyptian Iron Research Articles

Effect of MgO Content on Properties of Bahariya Iron Ore Sinter under the Conditions of Egyptian Iron & Steel Company (EISCO)

Effect of MgO Content on Properties of Bahariya Iron Ore Sinter under the Conditions of Egyptian Iron & Steel Company (EISCO)

Sintering of Bahariya Iron Ore Using Anthracite at the Egyptian Iron & Steel Company

Sintering of Bahariya Iron Ore Using Anthracite at the Egyptian Iron & Steel Company

Thermodynamics of Sulphur Distribution Between Slag and Hot Metal in Blast Furnace

Daily average analysis of slag and the corresponding hot metal samples were collected on a 1033 m3 blast furnace of the Egyptian Iron and Steel Company (EISCO) over a period of 50 days during May to June 2019. The measured temperature is that of liquid hot metal. The data obtained are used to study sulphur distribution between slag and metal using the concept of slag capacity. The partial pressure of oxygen is indirectly estimated by applying the thermodynamics of manganese oxidation reaction. The results show that the activity coefficients of Sulphur and manganese in the metal are 3.575 and 0.5193 respectively. There is a linear relationship between activity and concentration of MnO in the slag. Calculated and measured sulphur distribution coefficients are in satisfactory agreement.

The Re-Use of Calcareous Mud in the Sintering Plant of Hadisolb: A Techno-Economic Study

The chemical analysis of the calcareous mud (C.M.) was the corner stone behind the idea of replacing the limestone (L.S.) used in the sintering of el-Bahareya iron ores in the Egyptian Iron and Steel Company (Hadisolb) by the calcareous mud produced as a waste from the sugar beet companies.

Efficient photocatalytic degradation of malachite green dye using facilely synthesized hematite nanoparticles from Egyptian insecticide cans.

In the present study, a combustion method was applied for the production of hematite nanoparticles from Egyptian iron waste using l-arginine (The sample was named HA) and glutamine (The sample was named HG) as organic fuels, respectively. XRD confirmed that the HA and HG products have crystallite sizes of 48 and 56 nm, respectively. Also, HR-TEM demonstrated that spherical and irregular shapes have an average diameter of 45 and 59 nm were observed in the HA and HG samples, respectively. Besides, FE-SEM elucidated that spherical and irregular shapes have an average size of 142 and 196 nm were observed in the HA and HG samples, respectively. In addition, FT-IR confirmed that the peaks which were detected at 518 and 430 cm-1 are because of vibrations of Fe-O bond. Moreover, the value of the energy gap for the HA and HG samples was 1.00 and 1.45eV, respectively. Furthermore, the PL emission spectra elucidated that the emission intensity of the HA sample was less than that of the HG sample. So, e-/h+recombination rate of the HA sample was less than that of the HG sample. Hence, the photocatalytic degradation of malachite green dye using the HA sample was larger than that using the HG sample. In the absence of H2O2, the % degradation of malachite green dye under the influence of UV using HA and HG samples was 46.29 and 39.72 % after 3 h, respectively. Also, in the presence of H2O2, the % degradation of malachite green dye under the influence of UV using HA and HG samples was 100 % after 60 and 70 min, respectively.

Comparative study for reducibility of various Egyptian iron ores

ABSTRACT In order to develop iron industries taking the cost in consideration and to understand the behavior of the ore during processing, extensive mineralogical characterization for affordable ores is required. The comparative reduction behavior for fired and green samples from various ores and concentrates at different conditions simulating different zones of blast furnaces are investigated. At various zones, the semi-melted phase in green Aswan ore (Fayalite and calcium phosphate) resists the reducing gases access and retarding the reduction progress. Companionship of magnetite in green EDC decrease reaction rate. Firing increase the rate of reduction as the grain boundaries became clearer with smaller size, with addition to increasing porosity on account of heat. On the other hand for fired EDC samples, the hardly reduced magnetite phase is converted to hematite phase that is relatively easily to be reduced. Grain surface area is increased of EDC which boost the reaction.

Manganese Distribution between Slag and Metal in the Egyptian Blast Furnace

Daily average slag and the corresponding hot metal samples were collected from blast furnace No.3 (1033m3useful volume) of the Egyptian Iron and Steel Company (EISCO) charged with 100% self- fluxing sinter over a period of two months (from July to August 2015). The analyses of slag and metal were used to investigate the effects of temperature and basicity, defined as CaO/SiO2,on manganate capacity and manganese distribution between slag and metal.

Assessment of metal contamination and natural radiation hazards in different soil types near iron ore mines, Bahariya Oasis, Egypt

Nine metals (Al, Ba, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Pb, V, and Zn) and three natural radionuclides (40K, 238U, and 232Th) were quantitatively determined in the cultivated and uncultivated soils of the Bahariya Oasis where the main mines of the Egyptian iron ore are located. The mean concentrations of Ba, Cr, Cu, Fe, V in the cultivated soils and Al, Cr, Cu, V in the uncultivated soils exceed maximum allowable concentration (MAC). The evaporites-rich uncultivated soils contain high concentrations of Zn. The contamination degrees (Cd) of the cultivated and evaporites-rich uncultivated soils were represented by moderate to extremely high values. All metals are spatially varied and their highest values are recorded in the northern parts of the oasis close to the iron mines. The highest values of the activity concentrations of 40K were recorded in the evaporites-rich uncultivated soils. On the other side, the highest values of 238U, 232Th were recorded in the cultivated soils. The cultivated soils samples show higher values of the total absorbed external gamma dose rate (D) and annual effective dose (AED) than the international recommended values (54 nGy/h and 0.07 mSv/y; respectively). The external hazard index (Hex) for all studied soils are mainly lower than unity. The origin of Bahariya soils is lithogenic and anthropogenic, whereas the role played by groundwater flow, evaporation of near-surface saline groundwater, and phosphatic fertilizers in the soil contamination is more effective than those of iron ore erosion.

Beneficiation of Beni-Khaled Limestone Ore for Beneficial Industrial Uses

Limestone ore can be considered as an important source for mineral wealth in Egypt. Using wisdom for extracting these ores supports the national income of Egypt, Where, more than fifty million tons are produced per year. Most of this amount consumes in cement production and iron and steel industry. Beni-khaled quarries El-Menya Governorate, follows the Egyptian Iron and Steel Company, have more than 8 million tons of (-4+1) and (-1+0.0) cm accumulated in the site. Consequently, the main objective of this study is the beneficiation of this piled amount to maximize its beneficial industrial uses. Using crushing and grinding, dry magnetic separation, and calcination techniques produced an ore agrees with the needs of many industries, which increase the national income and solve the current environmental problems in this area.

Influence of Slag Composition and Temperature on Silicon Distribution between Slag and Hot Metal in the Egyptian Blast Furnace No.III

Daily average slag and the corresponding hot metal samples were collected on tapping of BF No.III of the Egyptian Iron and Steel Company (EISCO) and analyzed. The temperature of hot metal was measured during metal tapping. The useful volume of the furnace, which was charged with 100% self- fluxing sinter, is 1033m3.The analyses of slag and hot metal together with the metal temperature were used to estimate activity coefficient and activity of silica in the slag according to the statistical theory of regular ionic solutions. The silicate capacity of the slag and distribution of silicon between slag and hot metal were also assessed. The change of silicon activity in hot metal with the concentration was also treated. The activity coefficient of silicon was found to be 1.324. Calculated silicon distribution ratios satisfactorily correlate with the relevant values obtained from the chemical analysis. The effect of temperature on both silicate capacity and silicon distribution is very large compared with the influence of the slag basicity. The best correlation results were achieved when the basicity definition contains CaO and its equivalents of basic oxides.

Bioflocculation of (Iron oxide – Silica) system using Bacillus cereus bacteria isolated from Egyptian iron ore surface

In mineral bio-beneficiation, it is very important to understand the microbial surface characteristics and its behaviour onto the mineral surface. Bacillus cereus bacterium has never been used before as a bio-reagent for separation of different mineral systems. In this work, complete characterization of such type of bacteria, isolated from Egyptian iron ore surface, including gram stain, growth curve, Biolog microbial identification, Zeta potential characterization, Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometer, FTIR characterization as well as protein and polysaccharide analysis have been studied. The results confirmed that Bacillus cereus is a gram positive bacterium, rod shaped, smooth and circular with different types of by-products as polysaccharides, carboxylic acids and amino acids that gives an amphoteric behaviour on the cell surface. The results of zeta potential showed that the iso-electric points (IEP) of iron oxide (≈6.3) and silica (≈1.8) were significantly displaced to low values (≈2.2) and (≈1) respectively after treatment with the bacterial isolates. The results obtained showed a better affinity of Bacillus cereus to hematite mineral surface rather than silica surface and could be used in separation of such mineral from its associated gangue minerals. On applying B. cereus bacterial strain as a sole flocculating agent, to selectively separate hematite from its mixture with silica, succeeded in the removal of 80% of SiO2 as a concentrate containing about 2% SiO2 and 98% Fe2O3 with 82% flocculated by Wt. and a good recovery of 89.20%.

Application of a newly developed super paramagnetic magnetite Fe3O4 nanowafers nanoparticle in the removal of heavy metals from industrial wastewater submerging in the River Nile

This study describes a super paramagnetic magnetite Fe3O4 nanowafers adsorbent, using for the completely removal of some heavy metals (Fe+2, Mn+2, Cu+2, Zn+2, Ni+2, Pb+2, and Cd+2) from three discharge industrial wastewater samples which consider some pollution sources that submerging in the River Nile. For adsorbent the effect of various parameters such as the initial concentration (100 – 300 ppm), the mass of adsorbent (0.5 – 3 gm), the contact time (1-3 ml/min) and the solution pH (2-10) were determined of Cd metal ions by breakthrough determination. The maximum removal efficiency was found to be 100% in 1gm of SPMMFe3O4 NWNPs per 4572 ml at 25 mg/l (10 mg/l Fe+2, 4 mg/l Mn+2, 3 mg/l Ni+2, 2 mg/l Cu+2, 2 mg/l Zn+2, 2 mg/l Pb+2, and 2 mg/l Cd+2 ) of industrial discharge wastewaters were collected from the El-Nasr Company for Coks, Chemicals, Egyptian Iron and Steel factory and Egyptian Sugar & Integrated Industries Company at pH= 7.However, the AMBERLITE IR 120 H resin obtains result 2914.65 ml at the same conditions, this means that the efficiency of super paramagnetic magnetite Fe3O4 nanoparticles on a resin (AMBERLITE IR 120 H) supportis greater with 36.25 %. The next step in this work will consist of testing this non-conventional adsorbent on a pilot industrial scale.

Effect of microwave pre-treatment on the magnetic properties of iron ore and its implications on magnetic separation

The use of microwave heating is a potential means of energy savings and is a more effective alternative to the conventional thermal processing of minerals. The effect of microwave treatment on Egyptian iron ore samples was investigated. Changing the microwave exposure time and power as well as their reflection on the magnetic properties of iron ore before and after microwave pretreatment was analyzed using different techniques. Microwave treatment was found to be more efficient at larger particle sizes and longer exposure times for a fixed value of the applied power intensity. Magnetic separation of microwave treated and untreated iron ore indicated that iron recovery increased from 39.54% in the untreated sample to 97.95% in the microwave-treated sample. The results indicated that microwave radiation has a significant effect on the magnetic properties of hematite through the formation of new and more magnetic phases that facilitate their separation from non-magnetic minerals, thereby obtaining high recovery, reaching ca. 98%.

5,000 years old Egyptian iron beads made from hammered meteoritic iron

The earliest known iron artefacts are nine small beads securely dated to circa 3200 BC, from two burials in Gerzeh, northern Egypt. We show that these beads were made from meteoritic iron, and shaped by careful hammering the metal into thin sheets before rolling them into tubes. The study demonstrates the ability of neutron and X-ray methods to determine the nature of the material even after complete corrosion of the iron metal. The iron beads were strung into a necklace together with other exotic minerals such as lapis lazuli, gold and carnelian, revealing the status of meteoritic iron as a special material on a par with precious metal and gem stones. The results confirm that already in the fourth millennium BC metalworkers had mastered the smithing of meteoritic iron, an iron–nickel alloy much harder and more brittle than the more commonly worked copper. This is of wider significance as it demonstrates that metalworkers had already nearly two millennia of experience to hot-work meteoritic iron when iron smelting was introduced. This knowledge was essential for the development of iron smelting, which produced metal in a solid state process and hence depended on this ability in order to replace copper and bronze as the main utilitarian metals.

Analysis of a prehistoric Egyptian iron bead with implications for the use and perception of meteorite iron in ancient Egypt

AbstractTube‐shaped beads excavated from grave pits at the prehistoric Gerzeh cemetery, approximately 3300 BCE, represent the earliest known use of iron in Egypt. Using a combination of scanning electron microscopy and micro X‐ray microcomputer tomography, we show that microstructural and chemical analysis of a Gerzeh iron bead is consistent with a cold‐worked iron meteorite. Thin fragments of parallel bands of taenite within a meteoritic Widmanstätten pattern are present, with structural distortion caused by cold‐working. The metal fragments retain their original chemistry of approximately 30 wt% nickel. The bulk of the bead is highly oxidized, with only approximately 2.4% of the total bead volume remaining as metal. Our results show that the first known example of the use of iron in Egypt was produced from a meteorite, its celestial origin having implications for both the perception of meteorite iron by ancient Egyptians and the development of metallurgical knowledge in the Nile Valley.

Utilization of standardless analysis algorithms using WDXRF and XRD for Egyptian iron ore identification

On the basis of fundamental parameter approaches, the validity of standardless wavelength dispersive X‐ray fluorescence (WDXRF) and X‐ray powder diffraction algorithms was confirmed for analyzing Egyptian iron ore samples collected from two different locations, Aswan and Baharyia. The studied Egyptian iron ores represent different depositional environments and consequently exhibit variable mineralogical and chemical compositions. In the case of WDXRF analysis, the ground powders of iron ore samples were mixed and pressed with low contamination binder in a mass ratio of wax: sample = 4: 0.9 g at 120 kN cm−2. A standardless method for quantitative WDXRF was employed, which requires accurate determination of the amount of organic material in the sample. On the basis of differential thermal analysis, a new method is introduced for the determination of loss of ignition. With the application of the proposed method and standardless quantitative analysis, results for 12 elements in iron ores were obtained: Fe, Mn, Mg, Si, Al, Ca, Na, K, S, Ba, Zn, and Cl. The reliability and precision of the adopted procedure were tested against a standard reference material ‘Iron ore concentrate (SRM 690, NIST, USA)’. The quantitative analysis results of the certified reference material were found acceptable. Depending on the WDXRF results, the powder samples were directly introduced to X‐ray powder diffraction goniometry, and the phase compositions were quantitatively determined by using a standardless analysis program based on Rietveld method. The main phases of all iron ore samples are the hematite and goethite, whereas other phases are found with varying ratios, namely quartz, nordstrandite, rhodochrosite, kaolinite, todorokit, bassanit, andydrite, and hydroxyapatite. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Blast Furnace Operating Conditions Manipulation for Reducing Coke Consumption and CO2 Emission

AbstractA comparative reduction behavior of wüstite samples prepared from iron ore sinter was investigated to find the optimum way for reducing coke consumption and CO2 emission in blast furnace technology. A series of wüstite reduction experiments was carried out using different gas mixtures. A correlation between the experimental results and real data of blast furnaces at Egyptian Iron and Steel Company (EISCO) was demonstrated in order to optimize the coke consumption inside blast furnaces. Different theoretical models were applied on real data of blast furnaces to calculate the effect of operation parameters on the coke consumption. It was found that the wüstite reducibility can be controlled and enhanced using certain ratio of H2 and CO gases. Such kind of enhancement decreases the remaining quantity of unreduced wüstite which descends to the high temperature region of blast furnace. The theoretical analysis of real data using certain values of H2 and CO shows that increasing the amount of natural gas injection in blast furnace of EISCO will decrease the degree of direct reduction of iron oxide and consequently will decrease the amount of coke consumption.

A self-reduced intermediate product from iron and steel plants waste materials using a briquetting process

This study aims to investigate the possible solution for blast furnace flue dust which generates from the Egyptian Iron and Steel Company by forming self-reducing briquettes composed of flue dust and mill scale with different mass ratios, used in electric arc furnace to produce steel. The results indicated that the mechanical properties of the briquettes improved with increasing mill scale ratio in the mixture, whereas the reduction percentages decreased with decreasing temperatures. The addition of coke breeze fines to the briquette mixture (1 mill scale : 1 flue dust) improved the compressive strength of the produced briquette. XRD analysis and microscopic structure of briquette containing 11% coke reduced at 1100 °C for 2 h in isolated atmosphere, showed that the iron phase was predominate phase and the quantity of metallic iron increased.

Effect of BaO, Basicity and Temperature on Manganese Distribution between Slag and Hot Metal in Blast Furnace

Daily average data obtained on the 1033 m3 blast furnace No.3 of the Egyptian Iron and Steel Company (EISCO) were used to investigate the effects of BaO, basicity and temperature on the activity coefficient and activity of MnO in the slag as well as on the manganate capacity and manganese distribution between slag and metal. The activity coefficient was estimated by using the regular ionic solution model. Both activity coefficient and activity increase with increasing basicity and BaO content of the slag. The activity, manganate capacity and manganese distribution ratio are largely dependent on temperature and change only slightly with the basicity. The relative partial molar enthalpy of solution of MnO in the slag is 107 kJ/mol. The relationship between activity and concentration of MnO in the slag is linear over the whole ranges of temperature (1400 to 1450°C) and basicity, (CaO/SiO2 = 0.61-0.95). The concentration dependence of manganese activity in hot metal is also linear and the activity coefficient of Mn in hot metal is 0.51. The distribution ratios calculated by using the concept of manganate capacity were correlated with the relevant values obtained from the slag and metal analyses. The calculated partition ratios are in agreement with the observed values. In all cases, empirical equations have been derived.

Effect of recycling blast furnace flue dust as pellets on the sintering performance

The Egyptian Iron and Steel Company generates a great amount of blast furnace flue dust. The recovery of metals and carbon from this flue dust becomes a very important demand due to the increase of the price of coke breeze and the decrease of the primary source of metals. At the same time, it make the environment more safe by decreasing pollution. Introducing these dust fines in the sintering process proves to be very harmful for different operating parameters. Thus, this study aims at investigating the production of pellets resulting from these fines, using molasses as organic binder and its application in sintering of iron ore. The sintering experiments were performed using flue dust as pellets as a substitute of coke breeze. The results revealed that, sintering properties such as inter strength increases with using the flue dust pellets, while productivity of both the sinter machine and sinter machine at blast furnace yard decreases. Also the vertical velocity of the sinter machine and the weight loss during the reduction of produced the sinter by hydrogen decrease.