Structural and morphological changes during reduction of hematite to magnetite and wustite in hydrogen rich reduction gases under fluidised bed conditions

During the reduction of iron ore fines structural changes in particles have a significant influence on the rate of reduction. Investigations regarding porosity, specific surface area and mean pore diameters in the reduction of hematite with hydrogen rich reducing gases were performed by mercury porosimetry. Morphological changes were examined by metallographic analyses of polished sections in reflected light. In the magnetite equilibrium phase, significant influence of temperature on structural parameters and sintering effects were found. For wustite phases, the influence of temperature was less pronounced. For the reduction of hematite to magnetite and magnetite to wustite topochemical phase growth and microporous product layers were observed. In the single step, reduction of hematite to wustite progressive conversion and significant increase in the mean pore diameter were found. The results presented in this work are of high importance for understanding the reaction kinetics of iron ore fines and essential for modelling heterogeneous reactions.