Compressive Strength of Manganese Ore Fines and Molasses – Role of Binder Content, Raw Materials Size, and Heat Treatment

L. G. M. de Jesus, L. A. Ferreira, M. D. Ojeda

Briquetting, Manganese ore fines, Agglomerates.

The manganese is one of the most used metals in the World. The beneficiation of manganese ores consists of sizing steps. After beneficiation, up to 50 % of the material mined is deposited in tailing dams due to its low particle size despite owing a proper chemical composition. Thus, briquetting stands as an alternative process which allows the use of such fines. To ensure a good performance of the briquettes in the manganese ferroalloy production furnace, it is important that the agglomerates have suitable compressive strength. Hence, this work aims to study the compressive strength of briquettes made of fine-grained manganese ore and molasses (as binder) and the influence of particle size distribution and heat treatment. It was produced different batches of briquettes with diversified parameters regarding binder content (5, 7,5 and 10 %), particle top size (0,250, 1,00 and 2,00 mm) and heat-treating temperature (without, 200, 300 and 400 ËšC).Based on the results obtained, the briquettes that showed the best compressive strengthhad a maximum particle size of 0,250 mm, with 10% of molasses, heat-treatment temperature of 200 ºC, which resulted in a 33.3 MPa of compressive strength.

https://doi.org/10.31871/IJNTR.9.6.16