The importance of ore raw materials basicity in terms of their comprehensive quality evaluation

Basicity is one of the key chemical criteria in evaluating the properties of ore raw materials. The alkaline character of the blast furnace charge affects the efficiency of the iron production process in the blast furnace. The basicity of the raw ore material also affects the cost of the process, which may require additional basic additives. However, raw ore materials can be evaluated according to a range of criteria, which may be physical, chemical, economic or technological in character. In each category, many other criteria can be identified. Metallurgical companies have long endured problems in selecting suitable raw ore types and other input sources. Complications generally arise because of the wide spectrum of criteria, but also their varying character, which is difficult to uniformly assess. The range of criteria can be evaluated in categorically different units, which is then difficult to compare at an overall level. The significance and influence of basicity in relation to other key criteria in assessing ores was experimentally assessed in this research. The overall quality of the selected ores was also assessed under this task. Ore quality was analysed according to key criteria, which vary in character. Research was conducted at the company TŘINECKÉ ŽELEZÁRNY, a.s. The article discusses the results of research on the significance of basicity in the assessment criteria structure for ores and demonstrates the possibility of assessing ores using mathematical tools.