In-Situ Kinetic Study of Hydrogen Reduction of Fe2O3 for the Production of Fe Nanopowder

The reduction kinetics of Fe2O3 nanopowder was investigated by monitoring the reduction behavior in real-time and measuring the amount of outflowing water vapor using in-situ hygrometry study. The kinetics of hydrogen reduction of Fe2O3 was also studied on the basis of phase transformation, structure modification and outflowing diffusion of water vapor of the Fe2O3 powder during reaction. Activation energy for the hydrogen reduction of Fe2O3 nanopowder was calculated at various heating rate conditions and conversion fraction of reaction. The activation energies for reduction of Fe2O3 nanopowder obtained in this study existed in the range of 20-46 kJ/mol. The activation energy for reduction of Fe2O3 nanopowder obtained in this study decreased from 46 kJ/mol to 20 kJ/mol during the entire reduction process. Therefore, the hygrometry study is a powerful tool for in-situ kinetic study of hydrogen reduction of metal oxide for mass production. [doi:10.2320/matertrans.MRA2009472]This research was supported by the ministry of education and human resources development through the Brain Korea 21 (BK21) program