Although conventional agglomerates, such as pellets and sinter, have superior properties as blast furnace burdens, they also have inferior properties. The purpose of the present investigation is to develop a new iron ore agglomeration process that differs from the conventional ones and to improve properties of the agglomerates. The main results obtained are as follows:
(1) Differing from conventional mini-pellets adding sinter, the agglomerates, composed of diffusional bonding structure, were constituted of aggregates of irregular shaped pellets controlled 5 to 10 mm in size.
(2) Fine ores such as pellet feeds could be used in large quantities as raw materials for this process as compared with conventional sinter process, because they were granulated completely.
(3) According to an estimation method by mathematical model for fine coke addition to the raw materials, it was clarified that the method for preferential addition of the coke on surface of green ball was suitable because of the effective coke combustion. It was verified by pot grate furnace tests.
(4) The properties of the new agglomerates produced experimentally were found to be superior to those of sinter. The good properties were considered to depend mainly on the micro-and macro-structures and process characteristics.
