Effect of burnt lime addition on sintering of iron ore fines

In the worldwide iron making industry, sinter constitutes the major component in the metallic burden of most of the blast furnaces as it has numerous properties which lead to reduced coke rate, increased productivity, better heat transfer and permeability, elimination of raw flux, narrowing of softening and melting zones and better quality of hot metal. The sintering process is greatly influenced by the physico-chemical properties of raw materials used, whose characteristics change from time to time. Earlier, industrial trails were carried out to test, develop, evaluate and improve various operational parameters of the sintering process. However, due to frequent change in the raw material characteristics and proportioning such evaluations become more complex and pilot scale sintering studies have become more popular. Moreover, cost and time involved, along with less precision, do not often permit industrial experiments. In Bhilai Steel Plant, Steel Authority of India Limited, a pilot sintering unit has been established in order to conduct experiments for subsequent application in industrial sinter manufacturing. Studies were taken up to assess the effect of burnt lime addition in sinter-mix on sintering process of iron ore fines. The results found have been encouraging with significant increase in productivity