Effect of Temperature in the Selective Reduction Process of Limonite Nickel Ore

摘要

Temperature is the main factor for the reduction process that influence to reduction degree, phase and morphology transformation. In order to determine these effects which is caused by reduction temperature, this study was conducted. Limoniticnickel ore was prepared by drying and size reduction.A part of prepared limonitewas characterized with XRF to determine the chemical composition. The other part was mixed with reducing agent and CaSO_4 to produce pellet. A series of selective reduction processes were conducted to the pellet by using graphite crucible in the muffle furnace carbolite at 800° - 1100°C for 60 minutes. Reduced ore characterized by using XRD and SEM analysis.Based on the result study, weight loss and reduction degree increase as temperature raised along with CaSO_4 addition.Moreover, it caused decomposition and transformation to the metallic phase of kamacite and iron up to 7.51% and 41.44% respectively in the reduction process at 1100°C for 60 minutes.Furthermore, particle size growth as metallic phase content increased.