Production of crude ferronickel from Sivrihisar laterite ores of Turkey


Keskinkiliç E., POURNADERİ S., Geveci A., Topkaya Y. A.

TMS Annual Meeting & Exhibition, 4th International Symposium on High-Temperature Metallurgical Processing, San Antonio - Texas, United States Of America, 3 - 07 March 2013, pp.453-460

  • Publication Type: Conference Paper / Full Text
  • City: San Antonio - Texas
  • Country: United States Of America
  • Page Numbers: pp.453-460
  • Karadeniz Technical University Affiliated: No

Abstract

In the current work, laboratory-scale smelting experiments were conducted using Sivrihisar laterites (1.26% Ni). The ore samples previously subjected to drying, calcination and prereduction stages were smelted in alumina crucibles in a horizontal tube furnace under argon atmosphere. For the smelting system used in the present work, 1550°C and 40 minutes were determined to be the optimum smelting temperature and time, respectively. 25% excess coal addition in prereduction stage was reported to be crucial to obtain the desired Ni content in the final product. Colemanite in calcined form has long been known as a flux used in pyrometallurgical systems such as steelmaking and copper matte-smelting. To investigate the effects of calcined colemanite addition on the ferronickel metal-slag system, calcined colemanite of 2% and 4% of the total metal and slag weight was charged as a flux and smelted under the optimum conditions described above.