A Clean Strengthening and Carbon Reducing Process for Limonitic Laterite Sintering: Pre-drying Granulated Green Feed by Sintering Exhaust Gas

To ensure the air permeability of granulated sintering green feed, much water needs to be added during the granulation process as the low density and loose of limonitic laterite which bears lots of crystal water as well. As the heat conduction and combustion-supporting function of moisture, excessive high fuel consumption and poor sinter strength would be inevitably generated. In this study, to synchronously ensure air permeability and moisture content to strengthen the sintering process, a novel method of pre-drying the granulated sintering green feed by the sintering exhaust gas was put forward. The results showed that comparing with the traditional sintering process, the tumble index of sinter was increased by more than 28%, and the dosage of solid fuel was reduced by more than 10%. Pre-drying granulated sintering green feed was beneficial to the matching of combustion front and heat transfer front, promoting the formation of bonding phase in sinter.