Effect of three different binders and pellet feed on granulation behaviour of sintering mixtures

Cold agglomeration experiments were made in order to investigate the effect of three binders with different chemical composition (sodium polyacrylamide, cellulose derivate and a specific Brazilian mineral coal) and the addition of pellet feed in the sintering mixture, on the efficiency of granulation, evaluated by the mean particle size of the agglomerate and microstructure of the micro pellets. The binder that produced the highest mean particle size was used in new cold agglomeration experiments in order to indirectly evaluate the mechanical strength of the agglomerate. The experiments showed that only the cellulose derivate binder was capable of producing agglomerates with equal or greater mean particle size when compared with the base test for practically all performed tests, regarding the values of d(50) and Sauter mean diameter, besides promoting the increase on the adhering layer thickness and stability of the nuclei-adhering layer interface of the micro pellets.