Energy Recovery from Iron Ore Sinter Using an Iron Oxide Packed Bed

REIS, SAM; Holliman, Peter; Cairns, Stuart; Kiani, Sajad; Martin, Ciaran

doi:10.3390/chemengineering9060118

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Energy Recovery from Iron Ore Sinter Using an Iron Oxide Packed Bed

SAM REIS, Peter Holliman

, Stuart Cairns

, Sajad Kiani, Ciaran Martin

ChemEngineering, Volume: 9, Issue: 6, Start page: 118

Swansea University Authors: SAM REIS, Peter Holliman , Stuart Cairns

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DOI (Published version): 10.3390/chemengineering9060118

Abstract

This study investigated a novel method of recovering energy from iron ore sinter using solid iron oxide heat transfer materials. Traditionally, air is passed through the sinter either in an open conveyor or a sealed vessel to recover energy. The bed materials used were a magnetite concentrate, hemat...

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Published in:	ChemEngineering
ISSN:	2305-7084
Published:	MDPI AG 2025
Online Access:	Check full text
URI:	https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa70838

first_indexed	2025-11-05T10:07:34Z
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Traditionally, air is passed through the sinter either in an open conveyor or a sealed vessel to recover energy. The bed materials used were a magnetite concentrate, hematite ore, goethite–hematite ore and sinter fines. A shortwave thermal camera and quartz reactor were used measure infrared radiation from the process. The thermal imaging was combined with image analysis techniques to visualise the transfer of thermal energy through the system. The results showed that energy moved rapidly through the system with peak heating rates of 18 °C/min at a lump sinter temperature of 600 °C. The ratio of heating rate to cooling rate was as high as 8.6:1.0, indicating efficient retention of energy by the bed materials. The bed composition, determined by X-ray fluorescence and X-ray diffraction was used to calculate the heat capacity based on pure material properties. The resultant energy balance determined thermal efficiency to be between 32 and 46% for the sinter fines and hematite–goethite ore, resulting in predicted fuel savings of up to 9.4kg/tonne with similar heat utilisations to the air recovery process. Thermal imaging combined with Brunauer–Emmett–Teller surface area measurements and scanning electron microscopy analysis experimentally replicated mathematical heat transfer model predictions that a smaller total pore volume resulted in less thermally resistive bed. Image analysis illustrated the breaking of the heat front between the less resistive solid and more resistive air in porous beds versus even conduction of heat through a dense bed. 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spelling	2025-11-05T10:11:14.1789899 v2 70838 2025-11-05 Energy Recovery from Iron Ore Sinter Using an Iron Oxide Packed Bed 0b154a8efe1865f95b469db79b645078 SAM REIS SAM REIS true false c8f52394d776279c9c690dc26066ddf9 0000-0002-9911-8513 Peter Holliman Peter Holliman true false 3dd30d7102f5527fa2461e8930f9e40a 0000-0002-8417-0239 Stuart Cairns Stuart Cairns true false 2025-11-05 This study investigated a novel method of recovering energy from iron ore sinter using solid iron oxide heat transfer materials. Traditionally, air is passed through the sinter either in an open conveyor or a sealed vessel to recover energy. The bed materials used were a magnetite concentrate, hematite ore, goethite–hematite ore and sinter fines. A shortwave thermal camera and quartz reactor were used measure infrared radiation from the process. The thermal imaging was combined with image analysis techniques to visualise the transfer of thermal energy through the system. The results showed that energy moved rapidly through the system with peak heating rates of 18 °C/min at a lump sinter temperature of 600 °C. The ratio of heating rate to cooling rate was as high as 8.6:1.0, indicating efficient retention of energy by the bed materials. The bed composition, determined by X-ray fluorescence and X-ray diffraction was used to calculate the heat capacity based on pure material properties. The resultant energy balance determined thermal efficiency to be between 32 and 46% for the sinter fines and hematite–goethite ore, resulting in predicted fuel savings of up to 9.4kg/tonne with similar heat utilisations to the air recovery process. Thermal imaging combined with Brunauer–Emmett–Teller surface area measurements and scanning electron microscopy analysis experimentally replicated mathematical heat transfer model predictions that a smaller total pore volume resulted in less thermally resistive bed. Image analysis illustrated the breaking of the heat front between the less resistive solid and more resistive air in porous beds versus even conduction of heat through a dense bed. The oxide distribution in the bed materials impacted heat transfer, as at a lump temperature of 500 °C was controlled by hydrated oxide content whereas at 600 °C Fe2O3 was the more dominant driver. Journal Article ChemEngineering 9 6 118 MDPI AG 2305-7084 energy recovery; iron ore sinter; thermography 24 10 2025 2025-10-24 10.3390/chemengineering9060118 COLLEGE NANME COLLEGE CODE Swansea University External research funder(s) paid the OA fee (includes OA grants disbursed by the Library) We gratefully thank EPSRC and Tata Steel for cosponsoring an iCASE PhD studentship (Voucher no. 20000176) for SR and EPSRC for funding the Sustain Hub (EP/S018107/1) for PJH. 2025-11-05T10:11:14.1789899 2025-11-05T09:50:58.5222107 Faculty of Science and Engineering School of Engineering and Applied Sciences - Materials Science and Engineering SAM REIS 1 Peter Holliman 0000-0002-9911-8513 2 Stuart Cairns 0000-0002-8417-0239 3 Sajad Kiani 4 Ciaran Martin 5 70838__35554__713531ef5a0b4008abc48be2138ba152.pdf 70838.VoR.pdf 2025-11-05T10:08:46.2317023 Output 4091043 application/pdf Version of Record true © 2025 by the authors. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license. true eng https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
title	Energy Recovery from Iron Ore Sinter Using an Iron Oxide Packed Bed
spellingShingle	Energy Recovery from Iron Ore Sinter Using an Iron Oxide Packed Bed SAM REIS Peter Holliman Stuart Cairns
title_short	Energy Recovery from Iron Ore Sinter Using an Iron Oxide Packed Bed
title_full	Energy Recovery from Iron Ore Sinter Using an Iron Oxide Packed Bed
title_fullStr	Energy Recovery from Iron Ore Sinter Using an Iron Oxide Packed Bed
title_full_unstemmed	Energy Recovery from Iron Ore Sinter Using an Iron Oxide Packed Bed
title_sort	Energy Recovery from Iron Ore Sinter Using an Iron Oxide Packed Bed
author_id_str_mv	0b154a8efe1865f95b469db79b645078 c8f52394d776279c9c690dc26066ddf9 3dd30d7102f5527fa2461e8930f9e40a
author_id_fullname_str_mv	0b154a8efe1865f95b469db79b645078_*_SAM REIS c8f52394d776279c9c690dc26066ddf9__Peter Holliman 3dd30d7102f5527fa2461e8930f9e40a_**_Stuart Cairns
author	SAM REIS Peter Holliman Stuart Cairns
author2	SAM REIS Peter Holliman Stuart Cairns Sajad Kiani Ciaran Martin
format	Journal article
container_title	ChemEngineering
container_volume	9
container_issue	6
container_start_page	118
publishDate	2025
institution	Swansea University
issn	2305-7084
doi_str_mv	10.3390/chemengineering9060118
publisher	MDPI AG
college_str	Faculty of Science and Engineering
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department_str	School of Engineering and Applied Sciences - Materials Science and Engineering{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Science and Engineering{{{_:::_}}}School of Engineering and Applied Sciences - Materials Science and Engineering
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description	This study investigated a novel method of recovering energy from iron ore sinter using solid iron oxide heat transfer materials. Traditionally, air is passed through the sinter either in an open conveyor or a sealed vessel to recover energy. The bed materials used were a magnetite concentrate, hematite ore, goethite–hematite ore and sinter fines. A shortwave thermal camera and quartz reactor were used measure infrared radiation from the process. The thermal imaging was combined with image analysis techniques to visualise the transfer of thermal energy through the system. The results showed that energy moved rapidly through the system with peak heating rates of 18 °C/min at a lump sinter temperature of 600 °C. The ratio of heating rate to cooling rate was as high as 8.6:1.0, indicating efficient retention of energy by the bed materials. The bed composition, determined by X-ray fluorescence and X-ray diffraction was used to calculate the heat capacity based on pure material properties. The resultant energy balance determined thermal efficiency to be between 32 and 46% for the sinter fines and hematite–goethite ore, resulting in predicted fuel savings of up to 9.4kg/tonne with similar heat utilisations to the air recovery process. Thermal imaging combined with Brunauer–Emmett–Teller surface area measurements and scanning electron microscopy analysis experimentally replicated mathematical heat transfer model predictions that a smaller total pore volume resulted in less thermally resistive bed. Image analysis illustrated the breaking of the heat front between the less resistive solid and more resistive air in porous beds versus even conduction of heat through a dense bed. The oxide distribution in the bed materials impacted heat transfer, as at a lump temperature of 500 °C was controlled by hydrated oxide content whereas at 600 °C Fe2O3 was the more dominant driver.
published_date	2025-10-24T05:27:35Z
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score	11.089905

Energy Recovery from Iron Ore Sinter Using an Iron Oxide Packed Bed

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