Studies on the effect of waste plastic on the reduction with iron ore at high temperature

Abstract

This work investigated the effect of waste plastic (low density polyethylene (LDPE)) on the reduction with iron ore at high temperature. The composite pellets of different compositions were formed from the mixtures of iron ore with carbonaceous materials of mixtures of LDPE and metallurgical coke. The iron ore and carbonaceous material composites were heated in horizontal tube furnace at temperatures of 950 ˚C, 1000 ˚C and 1100 ˚C in continuous stream of argon gas. The reduced samples were examined using Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) to determined identification and qualitative deformation of various phases of compounds present in powdered samples. The result confirmed hematite was the main phase present in the samples and phase transformation occurred from iron oxide to metallic iron as the temperature is rising up. The influenced of temperatures and ratio compositions showed the transformation of main reduction steps, through magnetite and wustite to the metallic iron. By introducing the waste plastic in iron making, it has potential to reduce waste and increasing the reduction behavior performance.