Beneficiation of Oolitic Iron Ore Sourced from Gara Djebilet using Coal-Based Direct Reduction prior to Magnetic Separation

Abstract

A process involving coal-based direct reduction followed by wet low-intensity magnetic separation is presented in this paper with the objective of promoting the Fe content and reducing the P assay of phosphorus-rich oolitic iron ore. A final direct reduced iron powder assaying 92.5 wt% Fe and 0.2wt % P at a recovery rate of 95.9% was obtained when a mixture of ore-coal-CaO was reduced at 1200°C during 60 min in the presence of 7.5% sodium sulfate. In addition, microscopic analyses reported that the oolitic texture was completely destroyed, and most of the iron occurred in the metallic state. These findings suggest the ease utilisation of the ore mined from Gara Djebilet in the steelmaking industry as a substitute to scrap steel in electric arc furnace.