2012 Volume 52 Issue 12 Pages 2149-2157
The furnace with maximum 20 kW was constructed using focused 8 microwave beams at 2.455 GHz into the center of applicator (electromagnetic load chamber) to make high density electromagnetic field. By heating with the power of 17.5 kW during over 35 min, pig iron has been effectively produced from 1 kg of the mixed powder of magnetite ore and 18 mass% graphite. When wustite was reduced to iron, luminescence was emitted from reactor. The rate constant of pig iron making per microwave power was 4×10–3%·s–1·kW–1. The energy efficiency was 60% for heating resources and the reduction of magnetite to wustite and 15% for the reduction of wustite to iron and molten pig iron. The concentrations of impurities of phosphorous and silicon in pig iron were much lower than those in pig iron of blast furnace because of vaporization during the reduction of iron ore under rapid heating and the low oxygen potential in existence with graphite powder. The sulfur content in pig iron was a little higher than blast furnace pig iron because of little slag.