Processing of low grade manganese ore in submerged arc furnace

• Published in: Canadian metallurgical quarterly Vol. 62; no. 3; pp. 581 - 593
• Main Authors: Eissa, M., El-Faramawy, H., Mattar, T., Ahmed, A., Ghali, S., El-Fawakhry, M., Kotb, E. M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Taylor & Francis 03.07.2023
• Subjects: carbo-thermic reduction; high-manganese slag; Low-grade manganese ore; pig iron; selective reduction; submerged arc furnace
• ISSN: 0008-4433; 1879-1395
• DOI: 10.1080/00084433.2022.2102308

This paper presents an innovative technology that has been developed for the smelting of Egyptian low-grade manganese ore to produce low-manganese pig iron and high-manganese slag. This produced slag has a high Mn/Fe ratio, which, therefore, can be used in a second smelting process in the production of manganese alloys. In this developed technology, selective reduction of iron oxides from a ferruginous manganese ore (with Mn/Fe ratio equals 0.68) has been carried out via carbo-thermic reduction, in a 5 kg bench scale submerged arc furnace. The highest metallic yield, iron recovery in the pig iron, and MnO recovery in the manganese-rich slag, equal to 98%, 95.82%, and 94.59% respectively, were achieved at the optimum conditions of 4.5 kVA for pre-reduction power, 15 kVA for smelting power, 0.8 for coke ratio and 0.26 for CaO/SiO 2 ratio. The reduction process was applied successfully on a 100 kVA pilot scale submerged arc furnace