A review: research progress of flux pellets and their application in China

ABSTRACT

The flux pellets as the burden materials of blast furnace have been widely investigated and used. However, its research and practical applications keep slowly developing in China due to the historical status of the sinter and the limitation of raw material condition. The sinter output is constrained by the environmental department due to its great emission of air pollutants. Therefore, enhancing the development of pellets becomes an urgent task for China’s steel enterprises. Flux pellets shows excellent adaptability in ironmaking compared with acid pellet, but the investigation on its preparation and utilisation in China is far from enough. This review provides a summary of the current research status and application of flux pellets in China, which mainly focuses on the metallurgical properties and their interfering factors, as well as BF production indexes after using, hoping to provide a comprehensive understanding for flux pellets and push its technical progress continuously.

KEYWORDS:

• Blast furnace ironmaking
• burden materials
• flux pellets
• air pollutants
• high pellets ratio operation
• pellet preparation and utilisation
• metallurgical properties
• BF production indexes

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The authors gratefully acknowledge the project supported by the National Science Foundation of China [grant number U1960205].