Faster Generation of Nanoporous Hematite Ore through Dehydration of Goethite under Vacuum Conditions

• Published in: ISIJ International Vol. 61; no. 1; pp. 493 - 497
• Main Authors: Kurniawan, Ade, Saito, Genki, Nomura, Takahiro, Akiyama, Tomohiro
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: The Iron and Steel Institute of Japan 15.01.2021
• Subjects: goethite; low-grade iron ore; pore morphology; porous ore; vacuum-dehydration
• ISSN: 0915-1559; 1347-5460
• DOI: 10.2355/isijinternational.ISIJINT-2020-403

Goethite (FeOOH)-based ore has become attractive to be utilized in ironmaking. As mildly dehydrated to remove its high combined water (CW), it changes to a nanoporous hematite ore. The nanopore contributes a significant increase in ore reduction reactivity due to the nanocontact between iron oxide and reducing agents such as C, CO, or H2. However, the long dehydration time of goethite ore is still one problem. This study revealed the effect of vacuum condition on the mild-dehydration of goethite-based ore significantly reduces the ore dehydration time. The dehydration is finished within one hour at 300°C under high-vacuum condition (P=1.7 Pa), producing nanoporous hematite ore that is similar to under atmospheric one for 24 h. However, no significant decrease in the dehydration temperature under the high-vacuum condition. In contrast, in-situ heating TEM observation reveals that nanopore generation can occur at low temperatures under ultra-high vacuum conditions (P = 5.6×10−6 Pa). Slit pore generates at low temperatures that then eventually disappear by merging to bigger pores at the higher temperatures.