Phosphorus Removal and Iron Recovery from High-Phosphorus Hematite Using Direct Reduction Followed by Melting Separation

ABSTRACT To efficiently utilize high-phosphorus oolitic hematite resources, a method using direct reduction followed by melting separation was proposed. In this study, direct reduction behavior of the ore–char briquette and the melting separation behavior of the reduced briquette were investigated. Direct reduction test results show that under investigated conditions, the briquette reached a metallization rate of 80%–88% and a residual carbon value of 0.11–4.85 wt%,and apatite layers were fragmented into tiny particles, some of which were embedded in metallic iron phase. Melting separation test results show that residual carbon can significantly influence the iron recovery rate. For metallic briquettes with the abovementioned qualities, the iron recovery rate ranged from 75% to 98%. To control the phosphorus content in molten iron to be nearly 0.4 wt%, an iron recovery rate of 80% was shown to be adequate.