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When water is passed through a strong magnetic field, magnetic forces align the water molecules by polarisation and reduce surface tension. This concept was used at Rourkela Steel Plant where it improved the balling index of the green charge by 12.85%. By M K Singh*, S K Mohanty**, M Roy*, A K Sahu* and V R Deshmukh*
(ProQuest: ... denotes formulae omitted.)
IN the sintering process iron ore fines are mixed thoroughly with flux fines, coke breeze and other metallurgical waste produced in an integrated steel plant. Water is added to agglomerate the mix into balls in a rotating drum. These green balls are then fed to the travelling grate of the sinter plant to form a bed. After the feed material is introduced to the bed, combustion is started from the top of the bed by an ignition burner and air is sucked through the bed by means of a down draft suction fan. The combustion front propagates downward by burning the coke fines present in the charge mix and sintering commences. The prepared sinter cake is cooled, crushed and screened. The 5mm to 40mm size fraction is charged to the blast furnace along with other burden materials.
The Rourkela Steel Plant
The Rourkela Steel Plant's (RSP) sinter plant II is equipped with a rotating mixing and balling drum (MBD) where, during stage one of the process, charge materials are thoroughly blended. In stage two, balling takes place in the presence of water droplets in a rotating drum. During the balling operation, water acts as a binder for fine particles. The amount of water and its distribution between the particles plays a critical role in determining the void fraction and permeability of the sinter bed. When the top layer of the bed is ignited, part of the heat generated due to ignition of the top layer is consumed in evaporating the moisture present in the lower layers. Thus any possible reduction in specific moisture content in the charge mix, without compromising on the balling property, will lead to a reduction in coke fines consumption. Exhaustive research[1] has been conducted to reduce specific water consumption without compromising the balling properties...