Introduction

• 40 to 50% ore becomes under size during the

comminution and handling and once these
undersized particles charged, may affect the
proper functioning of the furnace and may
create pollution in the plant.
• For the utilization of these valuable ore fines, it
is necessary to agglomerate them into the
required size for charging in the furnace.
• Agglomeration is defined as the process to
prepare furnace feed with suitable size for
smooth, proper and efficient running of the
furnace operation.
 Introduction
• The process of agglomeration can be classified as
follows:
- Briquetting.
- Nodulising
- Sintering.
- Pelletizing
• Out of these agglomeration techniques, Sintering
and Pelletization processes are widely used.
• More than 100 mesh ore fines are used for
sintering whereas than 100 mesh is used for the
pelletization.
 The need for Sinter
• To utilize the fines generated during the mining
operation.
• To utilize the fines generated during the
processing of ores in furnaces and further
processing of the hot metal like mill scale, flue
dust, hearth slag etc. in an integrated plant.
• The need for charging prepared burden in
furnaces to increase productivity and lower fuel
rate
 Raw Materials
• Metal bearing materials: Ore fines=> -10mm to
100 mesh and Mill scale
• Fuel: The fuel is required to raise temperature of
sintering to the working temperature and should
be in the size => less than 6mm.
• Flux: Flux is used to reduce the melting point of
gangue associated with mineral.
• Moisture: Moisture is mixed for the heat carrier
and for giving the sticking property to the fines.
10-15% water is necessary in the sintering process.
 Principle of Sintering
• The principle of sintering involves the heating of
ore fines along with flux and fuel to produce a
semi-molten mass that solidifies into porous pieces
of sinter with the size and strength characteristics
necessary for feeding into the furnace.
• The ore sintering is carried out by putting mixture
of metal bearing fines mixed with fuel on a
permeable grate.
• The top layer of this sinter bed is heated to the
suitable sintering temperature by a gas or oil
burner and air is drawn downward.
 Principle of Sintering
• In the combustion zone, bonding takes place
between the ore particles and a strong and
porous aggregate is formed.
• The process is over when the combustion zone
has reached the lowest layer of the bed.
• The sinter cake is thus tipped from the grate in
hot condition.
• It is then broken, cooled in sinter cooler and sent
to the furnace.
Principle of Sintering
 Bonding Action
• Two types of bonds are formed during the
sintering process and they are as follows:
• Diffusion bond: It is formed as a result of
recrystallization of parent phase at the point of
contact of two particles in solid state and it is also
known as Recrystallization or Solid state bond
• Slag bond: It is formed as a result of formation of
low melting slag or glass at the point of contact of
two particles depending on the mineral
constitution, flux addition, etc..
 Variables of Sintering
The variables of the sintering process are as follows:
• Bed permeability as decided by the particle size
and shapes of the mix.
• Thickness of the bed.
• Total volume of air blast drawn through the bed
for its sintering.
• Rate of blast drawn through the bed during
sintering.
• Amount and quality of solid fuel incorporated in
the charge.
 Variables of Sintering
• Amount and type of carbonates present in the
charge.
• Amount of moisture in the charge.
• Nature of ore fines, (e.g. its chemical
composition).
• Any non-uniformity in the bed composition or
in the process of sintering.
 Parts of the Sinter Machine
1. Storage bins, Mixers, Feeders, Etc..
2. Charge Leveler
3. Ignition hood
4. Band of pallets and rail for its movement
5. Drive for mechanism
6. Sinter breaker, Screen, Cooler, Etc..
7. Spillage collector
8. Wind boxes, Dust extractor, Exhaust fan,
Chimney, Etc..
 Storage bins, Mixers, Feeders
• Raw materials like ore fines, mill scale,flue dust
and fuel etc. are generally stored in bins.
• From bins, raw materials are transferred to
mixers.
• In mixers, proportioned raw materials are
moistened and thoroughly mixed.
• Using the feeder, the ready mix is laid evenly
across the whole width of the pallet with
minimum compacting and a vibratory feeder is
used for this purpose.
Storage bins, Mixers, Feeders
 Charge Leveler
• For smooth working, it is necessary to have
uniform thickness of the raw material bed on
the pallets.
• A flat plate is fitted immediately after the feeder
to level of the charge.
• The cut off plate is generally adjusted to give a
fixed thickness of the bed in the range of 300-
450mm
 Ignition hood
• If proper ignition of the top layer is not achieved,
both output and quality of sinter affect adversely.
• Two main types of burners used for ignition and
they are as follows:
- Combustion chamber type
- Nozzle or torch type
• Proper ignition depends on the nature, amount
and distribution of solid fuel in the mix.
 Ignition Hood
• Combustion chamber type: Two burners are
located in the discharge half side of the hood
and hence heating takes place partly directly and
partly by the radiation from the top of roof
• Nozzle or torch type: one or more rows of
burners are fitted into the hood over the
entire width of the pallet to obtain ignition time
of nearly a minute, the flame directly impinges
on the charge and radiation plays a relatively
minor role.
Combustion chamber type
Ignition hood
Nozzle or Torch type
Ignition hood
 Pallets and rails
• The objectives of the pallet
-The pallet must support the mix from the
feed end to discharge end.
- It has withstand high temperature
developed during sintering.
- It must maintain efficient seal with the
stationary wind boxes.
• The pallets are made with chrome cast iron.
 Pallets and rails
• The aperture in the grate can be maximum 6mm
to avoid excessive dust losses.
• The maximum total free area is about 20% of the
total pallet area.
• The sidewalls of the pallet have a maximum depth
of about 600mm and tapered outwards.
• Flanged rollers are attached to each side of the
pallet.
• The pallets move over rails.
Pallets
 Driving Mechanism
• The driving mechanism is expected to be smooth
changeover of their movements from lower to
upper rails and vice versa at the ends.
• The main drive normally operates through a spur
wheel and pinion arrangement to achieve the
desired speed reduction.
• A gap of nearly 60-75mm is left in the complete
set of pallets even when these are heated to
maximum attainable temperature.
Discharge end of the
Sintering Machine
Sinter breaker, Screens and Cooler
• At the discharge end, when the pallets change in
direction of their movement one by one, the
sinter cake breaks in slabs of nearly the same
dimensions as that of the pallet.
• Sinter breaker breaks the sinter cake into small
pieces and the broken sinter is subjected to
crushing, screening and the over size is sent to
furnace after cooled to room temperature.
• The cooled fines are again recirculated.
 Spillage Collector
• In spite of all the care taken, the materials do
spill over and these must be collected and
reused again.
• The sinter machine is covered from the sides
and a longitudinal bunker is installed below the
bottom track such that the spillage from the top
track, sinter fines and lumps sticking to the grate
collected in this bunker.
• All these are again sent for sintering.
 Wind boxes, Dust extractor,
Exhaust fan and Chimney
• An exhaust blower of suitable size is provided
with the machine.
• The size of the blower depends on thickness of
the bed, quality of the feed, ignition condition
amount and quality of fuel used.
• Each wind box is connected with suction blower.
• Dust extractor is connected with the gas main.
• As per the pollution norms, the exhaust gases
may be cleaned before letting them into the air.
 Sintering Process
• A layer of controlled size sinter (bedding) is fed to
the bottom of the sinter machine grates for the
protection of the grates.
• After this the moistened micro pellets of the raw
materials mix is fed and leveled.
• After the material is leveled on the sinter
machine, the surface of the charged material on
the sinter machine is ignited using gas or oil
burners.
 Sintering Process
• Air is drawn through the moving bed causing the
fuel to burn.
• Sinter machine velocity and gas flow are
controlled to ensure that “burn through” (i.e. the
point at which the burning fuel layer reaches the
base of the strand) occurs just prior to the sinter
being discharged.
• During the machine movement, the sintering of
the material bed on the grate proceeds
downward.
 Sintering Process
• Waste gas circuit is to be fully leak proof, not
allowing air from atmosphere to be sucked by the
system.
• This results into saving of power in the waste gas
circuit.
• At the end of the machine, the sintered material
in the form of cake is discharged into the hot
sinter crusher.
• Here the hot sinter cake is crushed to a pre-
determined maximum particle size.
 Sintering Process
• From here, the sinter is discharged onto sinter
cooler and after cooling, the sinter is transferred
to the screening section.
• In the screening section, the product sinter,
bedding and return fines are separated.
• Return fines, not suitable for downstream
processing, are conveyed to a bin for recycling in
the sintering process.
• Waste gases are treated for dust removal in a
cyclone, electrostatic precipitator, wet scrubber or
fabric filter and finally released to the chimney.
 Factors Affecting Sinter Quality
• Size of the charge mix: The strength of sinter is
directly related to the size distribution of the
charge mix. If size is large, the contact area will be
less and the strength of the sinter will be low and
conversely if size is too small the contact area of
particles will be large and the strength will be
high.
Ideal size of ore Fines : -10 mm to + 100 mesh
Coke breeze : -3.2 mm 85%
Flux : -3.2 mm 85%
 Factors Affecting Sinter Quality
• Fuel content: Variation in fuel content in charge
mix affect the peak temperature attained during
sintering, the combustion zone will not be
uniform leading to poor bed permeability, this in
turn increases return fines generation
• Moisture: The presence of moisture in the charge
mix has several advantages. It maintains proper
permeability in the bed during sintering. This is
beneficial from the point of view of heat transfer
during sintering.
 Factors Affecting Sinter Quality
• Re-circulating load or Return fines addition: For
higher output of the sinter strand the circulating
load should be low.
• A fine circulating load however, reduces the
permeability of the bed.
• An optimum circulating load is established for
maximum output of the acceptable sinter to the
Blast Furnaces.
 Parameters Controlling
Sintering Process
• Fuel content for heat input
• Ignition intensity - Temperature of Ignition
Hood Furnace
• Moisture content of mix to control its
permeability.
• Machine speed control to obtain complete Burn
through.
• Return Fines Addition.
Parameters Controlling Sintering
Process
• Waste Gas Temperature
• Sintering Temperature or Burn through
Temperature
• Pressure drop across the Sinter Bed- Main
Suction
• Bed Height
• Calcined Lime addition- to improve bed
Permeability.
 Types of Sinter
Depending upon weather fluxes have been
incorporated in the Sinter mix, sinters are divided
into three broad classes.
• Non-fluxed or Acid Sinter: Those where no flux is
present or is added in the furnace separately.
• Basic Sinter or Self Fluxing Sinter: Those where
sufficient flux has been added in the sinter mix to
provide a basicity that is desired in the final slag,
taking into consideration only the burden acids.
An extra flux is added to the furnace burden, to
take care of coke ash.
 Types of Sinter
• Super-fluxed Sinter: The entire amount of flux
required to maintain the necessary basisity is added
in the mix.
• The basicity of the mix would be more than that of
the slag in the furnace.
• This is the aim of most of the modern practices
wherein a high percentage of sinter (50–80%) charge
in the burden is contemplated and a small proportion
of natural, good graded and sized ore charge would
also be necessary.
• Practically no separate flux addition may be required
if super-fluxed sinter is used.
 Advantages of addition of flux
• It generates slag with the impurities present in
the ores and solid fuels producing a suitable
matrix for cohesion of the particles.
• It improves the physical and metallurgical
properties of sinter.
• It reduces the melting temperature of the ore
blend.
• It promotes the calcination reaction of the
limestone (CaCO3 = CaO + CO2) outside of the
furnace hence saving heat consumption in the
furnace.
 Advantages of Sinter
• Agglomeration of fines into hard, strong and
irregular porous lumps which gives better bed
permeability.
• Elimination of moisture, hydrated water and other
volatiles on the sinter strand with a cheaper fuel.
• Increased the softening temperature and
narrowing down of the softening range.
• As the calculation of flux takes place in sinter
strand, super-fluxing saves much more coke in the
furnace.
 Advantages of Sinter
• It increases the furnace productivity.
• Increase of sinter percentage in furnace burden,
increases the permeability, hence reduction and
heating rate or burden increases, so the
productivity also.
• Utilization of solid wastes generate within process
plant.
 Efficiency of Sintering
The efficiency of a sintering machine can be
assessed in terms of the following parameters:
• Productivity in tons of useful sinter per square
meter of the working area per hour.
• The quantity of air drawn through the bed per
unit time. The higher the value, the better the
efficiency.