Topics in Mining, Metallurgy and MaterialsEngineering

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Mikhail Gasik • Viktor Dashevskii •

Aitber Bizhanov

FerroalloysTheory and Practice

123

Mikhail GasikNational Metallurgical Academyof UkraineDnipro, Ukraine

Aitber BizhanovJ.C. Steele & Sons IncMoscow, Russia

Viktor DashevskiiRussian Academy of SciencesMoscow, Russia

ISSN 2364-3293 ISSN 2364-3307 (electronic)Topics in Mining, Metallurgy and Materials EngineeringISBN 978-3-030-57501-4 ISBN 978-3-030-57502-1 (eBook)https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-57502-1

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or partof the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations,recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmissionor information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilarmethodology now known or hereafter developed.The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in thispublication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt fromthe relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in thisbook are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor theauthors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material containedherein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regardto jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

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The book is dedicated to our fellowmetallurgists victims of the coronaviruspandemic.

Preface

The final stage of the preparation of the manuscript of this book took place inunusual conditions. The COVID-19 pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 has hit theworld and has already claimed the lives of many, many people around the worldand significantly changed our normal lifestyle, filling it with alarming expectations.Although there are a lot of frightening details in the news, there is good news aboutthe progress in finding and creating a vaccine against this dangerous disease.Leading medical research centers and clinics have already begun testing its variousmodifications.

Such a meaningful and targeted search, based on deep scientific ideas and on theanalysis of previous experience, is akin to the approach of ferroalloy scientists to thesearch for effective ways to give steel the required properties using special alloys—ferroalloys.

In time immemorial, the search for ways to give special properties to steel wasbased on trial and error. Man learned to use alloying elements to improve thequality of steel and iron products long before he learned about the existence of suchelements—even before the beginning of the Iron Age, meteorite iron containing upto 8.5% nickel was used.

Well known are futile attempts by alchemists to find a philosopher’s stone (lat.Lapis philosophorum, aka masters, Rebis, elixir of philosophers, life elixir, redtincture, great elixir, fifth element)—a certain reagent necessary for the successfulconversion (transmutation) of metals into gold as well as to create the elixir of life.

The first attempts to make conscious use of the properties of alloying elementsdate back to the Middle Ages, and this happened in the East, famous for itshigh-quality steel. Held in the 20th century chemical analysis of the steel fromwhich the Japanese weapons of the 11th–13th centuries were made showed thepresence of molybdenum in its composition. Today, it is well known that molyb-denum alloy steel has high hardness, strength and toughness.

The need to maintain social distancing, unfortunately, did not allow the authorsof the book to discuss the contents of this preface in a personal meeting.

vii

I allow myself to take advantage of this circumstance and express my over-whelming surprise to the fact that I have the honor to be a co-author of Profs.Mikhail Gasik and Viktor Dashevskii, from whose books I studied metallurgy andcomprehended the basics of the theory of ferroalloy processes. The book is based onthe revised and supplemented content of numerous scientific works and textbooksby Mikhail Gasik and Viktor Dashevskii, published many times in the USSR, andthen in Russia and Ukraine. Scientific works of Profs. Mikhail Gasik and ViktorDashevskii formed the basis of almost all projects implemented in the USSR,Russia and Ukraine to create and improve the production of ferroalloys. A chapterhas been added devoted to modern methods of preparing raw materials for smeltingferroalloys, in particular, the agglomeration of natural and anthropogenic rawmaterials in the ferroalloy industry. In particular, attention is paid to the stiff vac-uum extrusion technology, which is gaining popularity in briquetting and is basedon the scientific results I obtained. The environmental aspects of ferroalloy pro-duction are considered.

The content of the book largely fills the gap that exists in the internationalliterature and is associated with insufficient coverage of the contribution of Sovietand Russian scientists to the development of ferroalloy science and technology.

In the sections devoted to fundamental scientific ideas and classical results, thereare, with rare exceptions, literary references. In compensation, we provide a rec-ommended list of references. For methodological purposes, we also give examplesof calculating fees for the smelting of some ferroalloys, which makes the bookinteresting for students and graduate students studying metallurgy as well.Metallurgists and ferroalloy engineers will find many useful and important things inthe book. Considerable attention is paid to improving the preparation of rawmaterials for smelting ferroalloys, methods of utilization of waste products andby-products, and environmental issues.

On behalf of my co-authors, I express my gratitude to Prof. Vladimir Zhuchkov(Institute of Metallurgy, Ural Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences) for help inpreparing sections related to sintering and pelletizing of manganese ore fines andconcentrates.

The authors are especially grateful to the publisher for the goodwill andopportunity to publish this book and the effort to publish it.

Moscow, Russia Dr. Aitber Bizhanov

viii Preface

Introduction

“Take a new earthen pot, put in it a pound of red copperwith half a bottle of Nitric Acid. Boil it for half an hour.Afterwards add three ounces of verdegris (CopperCarbonate), and boil for one hour. Then add two and a halfounces of arsenic, and boil one hour. Add three ounces of oakbark, well pulverized, and let it boil a half hour, add a 64 fluidounces of rose water boil twelve minutes, then add threeounces of lampblack, and let it boil until the composition isgood. To see whether it is cooked enough, dip a nail in it; if itadheres, remove it. It will produce a pound and a half of goodgold. If it does not adhere, it is proof that it has not cookedenough; the liquor can serve four times.”

The recipe for a philosopher’s stone. The Great Grimoire.Chapter “Secrets of magic art”

Despite the rapid development of science and technology, all kinds of fashionabledefinitions of the modern era (scientific progress, information technology, artificialintelligence, etc.), humanity still lives in the Iron Age, because the role that iron,and especially its alloy with carbon—steel, plays in the life of modern society isincomparable with any other building and structural material.

Ferroalloys, in a figurative comparison, are steelmaking salt and pepper. The useof ferroalloys as enriching additives for the purpose of deoxidation and alloyingimproves the physical and mechanical properties and functional characteristics ofmetal products. Not a ton of steel is smelted without the use of ferroalloys. Thespecific and branded assortment of ferroalloys is extensive. As a rule, separately orin combination, the composition of ferroalloys includes 20–25 elements of thePeriodic system of elements, which differ significantly in physicochemical prop-erties and affect the properties of steel and alloys in different ways.

Ferroalloys are mainly used in the smelting of steel and cast iron. Some types offerroalloys are used in non-ferrous metallurgy, chemical industry, etc. Ferroalloyproduction is an integral part of the mining and metallurgical complex, sincethe essence and main task of the ferroalloy industry are the primary extraction(recovery) of metals from natural mineral formations mined from the bowels. Oresinclude nonmetallic minerals, gangue. Therefore, the ore is subjected to enrichment

ix

in one or sequentially in several ways (gravitational, magnetic, electric, flotation,less often—chemical) to obtain concentrates in which the content of the leadingmetal is significantly higher in comparison with the original ore. The use of con-centrates rather than the initial ore allows one to obtain ferroalloys with a highcontent of the leading (ferroalloy) element, with a lower content of impurity ele-ments (phosphorus, sulfur, non-ferrous metals) and, which should be especiallynoted, significantly reduce the specific energy consumption.

Historically, the beginning of industrial production and use of ferroalloys dateback to the end of the nineteenth century, when melting of carbon ferromanganeseand low-grade ferrosilicon in blast furnaces was developed. Ferroalloys withleading metals having a greater chemical affinity for oxygen than iron, as well asferroalloys with a low carbon content, cannot be obtained by a blast furnacemethod. The production of ferroalloys of the entire assortment of hardly reducibleelements and with low carbon content was successfully mastered in the twentiethcentury in electric arc furnaces.

The consumption of ferroalloys and, consequently, their production directlydepend on the amount of steel smelted. This general position can be somewhatclarified by the specific consumption of ferroalloys per ton of steel in the directionof its decrease in connection with the diversification of methods of steel smelting ofvarious groups and grades, increasing continuous casting, the development ofinnovative technologies.

In 2013, according to World Steel Association, 1.622 billion tons of steel wasproduced in the world, of which 779 million tons (48%) in China. According tomost forecasts, in 2014 steel production was set at 1.662 billion tons, in 2015 itamounted to 1.635 billion tons, and by 2020, global steel production will increaseto 1.814 billion tons (794 million tons will come from China). By 2020, thesmelting of alloyed and special, especially corrosion-resistant steels will increaseeven more significantly. For example, if in 2013, 19 million tons of corrosion-resistant steel was smelted in China (out of 36 million tons of world production),then by 2015 this figure was already 23 million tons (21% more), and by 2020—27.7 million tons (an increase of 8.7 million tons, or 46%, compared with the 2013figure).

Today, per ton of steel, on average, about 20 kg of various ferroalloys is con-sumed, of which amount is: ferrochromium of the order of 20%; ferrosilicon—18%,silicomanganese—22%; high-carbon ferromanganese—12%; refined manganesealloys and metallic manganese—5%; ferronickel—4%; and all others—19% intotal. At the same time, the smelting of 170 million tons of special steels (20% ofworld production) required 35% of all consumed ferroalloys, while the melting of1440 million tons of ordinary grades (respectively 80% of world production)required 65% of all consumed ferroalloys.

The expansion of the assortment of ferroalloy production in relation to meetingthe needs of the steel industry is primarily associated with the smelting of fer-roalloys of the small tonnage group—alloys of nickel, titanium, niobium, molyb-denum, vanadium and ferrovanadium, ferrotungsten, etc.

x Introduction

The main producers of niobium alloys are Brazil (about 90% of world pro-duction) and Canada. World production and consumption of ferroniobium in 2013amounted to about 80 thousand tons. In 2014, the increase in ferroniobium smeltingwas estimated at 83 thousand tons, and over the past five years, the increase hasbeen approximately 4.9% annually.

About 80 thousand tons of tungsten-containing products is sold on the worldmarket (data from 2017), of which about 20% of the ferrotungsten itself falls, i.e.,about 16 thousand tons. The largest producers and exporters of ferrotungsten arecountries such as China (2.8 thousand tons), Vietnam (2.2 thousand tons), Sweden(0.5 thousand tons). The tungsten content in it is usually 75–85% (in aSwedish-made alloy—more than 90%), and the alloy is supplied in the form ofpieces of 80–100 mm, briquettes (40 mm) and pellets (3–10 mm). Tungsten is usedfor smelting mainly tool steels, including high-speed steels and high-strength carbonsteels for various purposes. Along with tungsten, the branded range of these steelsalso includes molybdenum and chromium. In general, metallurgy absorbs almost95% of all mined tungsten. World tungsten production is 85–87 thousand tons.

The need for nickel for the smelting of special, primarily corrosion-resistantsteels is met mainly by electrolytic nickel produced at non-ferrous metallurgyenterprises. One of the largest producers of ferronickel is Indonesia, where the totalferronickel smelting capacity in Indonesia exceeded 140 thousand tons per year.

World production and consumption of vanadium in the form of ferrovanadiumare 86 thousand tons (2013 data). A continuous increase in the production volumeof this alloy is noted: It is predicted that by 2020 this figure will increase to 140thousand tons. The main producers of ferrovanadium (by countries and regions) are:China—49.7% of world production, South Africa—13.9%, Russia—7.8%, Europe—6.7%, North America—4.5%. Forty-six percentage of vanadium produced in theworld is consumed in China, 17% in Europe, 13% in North America, 7% in Japan,6% in the CIS, 3% in India and 8% in other countries. Almost 72% of fer-rovanadium is produced from vanadium slag in the world, 19% from primary oreand 9% from secondary vanadium-containing raw materials.

The desire to comply with the high rates of industrialization and growing con-sumption of steel was not feasible without the significant development of ferroalloyscience and technology, which, in turn, is impossible without knowledge of thefundamental principles of the theory of ferroalloy processes.

The book outlines the physical and chemical foundations of high-temperatureprocesses for producing silicon, manganese and chromium ferroalloys, alloys ofmolybdenum, vanadium, titanium, alkaline earth and rare earth metals, niobium,zirconium, aluminum, boron, nickel, cobalt, phosphorus, selenium and tellurium,iron–carbon alloys by carbon, silicone and aluminothermic methods. The industrialproduction technologies of these groups of ferroalloys, the characteristics of chargematerials and the technological parameters of the melting processes are considered.A description of ferroalloy furnaces is given. Waste recycling, fine agglomerationtechnologies and environmental issues are considered.

Introduction xi

Contents

1 Physicochemical Fundamentals of Ferroalloy Processes . . . . . . . . . 11.1 Thermochemistry of Ferroalloy Processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.2 Thermodynamics of Oxide Formation Reactions . . . . . . . . . . . . 41.3 Thermodynamics of Carbide Formation Reactions . . . . . . . . . . 111.4 Thermokinetics of Ferroalloy Processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131.5 Gibbs Phase Rule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

2 Phase Equilibria in Metal and Oxide Ferroalloy Systems . . . . . . . . 152.1 General Characteristic of X-T State Diagrams of Systems . . . . . 152.2 Binary Equilibrium Phase Diagrams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162.3 Ternary Equilibrium Phase Diagrams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20Reference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

3 Classification of Ferroalloy Processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253.1 Classification of Metals—Leading Ferroalloy Elements . . . . . . . 253.2 General Requirements for the Quality of Ferroalloys . . . . . . . . . 283.3 Classification of Ferroalloy Processes by the Type of Used

Reducing Agents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283.4 Classification of Ferroalloy Processes by Type

of Aggregate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303.5 Classification of Ferroalloy Processes by Technological

Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

4 Metallurgy of Silicon and Silicon Carbide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 354.1 Properties of Silicon and Its Compounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 354.2 Theoretical Foundations of Silicon Reduction by Carbon . . . . . 424.3 The Assortment of Crystalline Silicon and Quality of Raw

Charge Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 434.4 The Technology of Crystalline Silicon Smelting . . . . . . . . . . . . 464.5 The Technology of Silicon Carbide Production . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

xiii

5 Metallurgy of Ferrosilicon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 575.1 Assortment, Microstructure and Properties of Ferrosilicon . . . . . 575.2 Geometric Parameters of Bath and Electrical Characteristics

of Electric Furnaces for Ferrosilicon Smelting . . . . . . . . . . . . . 645.3 The Technology of Ferrosilicon Smelting and Casting . . . . . . . 74References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

6 Metallurgy of Manganese Ferroalloys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 936.1 Properties of Manganese and Its Compounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 936.2 Manganese Minerals, Ores and Concentrates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1046.3 The Technology for High-Carbon Ferromanganese

Smelting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1056.4 The Technology of Ferrosiliconmanganese Smelting . . . . . . . . . 1136.5 The Technology of Smelting of Metallic Manganese,

Low- and Medium-Carbon Ferromanganese . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1166.6 The Technology of Nitrided Manganese

and Silicomanganese . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124

7 Metallurgy of Chromium Ferroalloys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1257.1 Properties of Chromium and Its Compounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1257.2 Chromium Minerals and Ores . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1327.3 The Technology of Obtaining High-Carbon

Ferrochromium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1347.4 The Technology of Obtaining Ferrosilicochromium. . . . . . . . . . 1377.5 The Technology of Obtaining Low-Carbon Ferrochromium . . . . 1397.6 Vacuum Processes of Decarburization and Degassing

of Ferrochromium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1507.7 Oxygen-Converter and Silicothermic Methods of Obtaining

Medium-Carbon Ferrochromium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1517.8 Aluminothermic Method for Producing Metallic Chromium

and Ferrochromium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1537.9 The Technology of Producing Nitrided Ferrochromium . . . . . . . 158

8 Metallurgy of Ferrotungsten . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1618.1 Properties of Tungsten and Its Compounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1618.2 Tungsten Minerals, Ores and Concentrates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1648.3 The Technology of Obtaining of Ferrotungsten

by Carbon-Silicothermic Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1658.4 The Technology of Ferrotungsten Production

by Aluminothermic Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170

9 Metallurgy of Ferromolybdenum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1719.1 Properties of Molybdenum and Its Compounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1719.2 Molybdenum Minerals, Ores and Concentrates . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176

xiv Contents

9.3 Oxidative Firing of Molybdenum Concentrate . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1769.4 The Technology of Producing Ferromolybdenum

by an Out-of-Furnace Silicoaluminothermic Method . . . . . . . . . 177

10 Metallurgy of Ferrovanadium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18310.1 Properties of Vanadium and Its Compounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18310.2 Vanadium Minerals, Ores and Concentrates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18710.3 Technology of Metallurgical Processing

of Vanadium-Containing Concentrates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18910.4 The Technology of Chemical Processing

of Vanadium-Containing Slag . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19110.5 Thermodynamics of Vanadium Reduction from Oxides . . . . . . . 19410.6 The Technology of Producing Ferrovanadium

by Silicoaluminothermic Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19510.7 The Technology for Production of Ferrovanadium

by the Aluminothermic Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19710.8 Ferrosilicovanadium Production Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19810.9 The Technology of Production of Nitrided

Ferrovanadium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199

11 Metallurgy of Ferrotitanium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20111.1 Properties of Titanium and Its Compounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20211.2 Titanium Minerals, Ores and Concentrates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20711.3 Thermodynamics of Titanium Oxides Reduction . . . . . . . . . . . . 20811.4 Oxidative Firing of Titanium Concentrates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21011.5 The Technology of Ferrotitanium Production

by Aluminothermic Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21011.6 The Technology of Producing Metallic Titanium

with Magnesium-Thermic Reduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214

12 Alkaline Earth Metal Ferroalloys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21912.1 Calcium Carbide and Silicocalcium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219

12.1.1 Properties of Calcium and Its Compounds . . . . . . . . . . 22012.1.2 Calcium Carbide Smelting Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . 22312.1.3 Silicocalcium Smelting Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227

12.2 Ferrosilicobarium and Aluminobarium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23112.2.1 Properties of Barium and Its Compounds . . . . . . . . . . . 23112.2.2 Ferrosilicobarium Smelting Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . 23612.2.3 Aluminobarium Smelting Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238

12.3 Ferrosilicostrontium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23812.3.1 Properties of Strontium and Its Compounds . . . . . . . . . 23912.3.2 Minerals and Ores of Strontium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24212.3.3 Ferrosilicostrontium Smelting Technology . . . . . . . . . . 243

Contents xv

12.4 Ferrosilicon Magnesium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24312.4.1 Properties of Magnesium and Its Compounds . . . . . . . . 24412.4.2 Minerals and Ores of Magnesium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24512.4.3 Technology for Producing Magnesium

and Magnesium Ferroalloys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24612.5 Beryllium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248

12.5.1 Properties of Beryllium and Its Compounds . . . . . . . . . 24812.5.2 Beryllium Minerals and Ores . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24912.5.3 Beryllium Production Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249

13 Metallurgy of Ferroniobium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25113.1 Properties of Niobium and Its Compounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25113.2 Niobium Minerals and Ores . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25613.3 Thermodynamics of Niobium Reduction Reactions . . . . . . . . . . 25713.4 The Technology for Producing Ferroniobium

by Aluminothermic Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258Reference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261

14 Ferrosilicozirconium and Ferro-Alumino-Zirconium . . . . . . . . . . . . 26314.1 Properties of Zirconium and Its Compounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26314.2 Zirconium Minerals, Ores and Concentrates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26614.3 Thermodynamics of Zirconium Reduction Reactions . . . . . . . . . 26914.4 The Technology for Producing Ferrosilicozirconium

by Aluminothermic Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26914.5 The Technology for Producing Ferro-Alumino-Zirconium

by Aluminothermic Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272

15 Ferroaluminum and Silicoaluminum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27515.1 Properties of Aluminum and Its Compounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27515.2 Aluminum Minerals and Ores . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28015.3 Ferroaluminum Production Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28015.4 Silicoaluminum Production Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281

16 Ferroboron and Boron Carbide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28516.1 Properties of Boron and Its Compounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28516.2 Boron Minerals and Ores . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28716.3 Thermodynamics of Boron Reduction Reactions . . . . . . . . . . . . 28916.4 The Technology of Ferroboron Production . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29016.5 The Technology of Boron Carbide Production . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292

17 Ferroalloys with Rare-Earth Metals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29717.1 Properties of Rare-Earth Metals and Their Compounds . . . . . . . 29717.2 Minerals, Ores and Concentrates of Rare-Earth Metals . . . . . . . 30017.3 The Technology for Producing Ferroalloys with Rare-Earth

Metals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304

xvi Contents

18 Iron–Carbon Alloys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30718.1 Properties of Iron and Its Compounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30718.2 Reduction of Iron by Carbon and Gases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31018.3 Cast Iron Electrothermics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312

19 Metallurgy of Ferronickel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31719.1 Properties of Nickel and Its Compounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31719.2 Nickel Minerals and Ores . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32119.3 The Technology of Production and Refining Ferronickel . . . . . . 324

20 Metallurgy of Cobalt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32920.1 Properties of Cobalt and Its Compounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32920.2 Cobalt Minerals and Ores . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33320.3 The Technology of Cobalt Production . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 334

21 Metallurgy of Ferrophosphorus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33921.1 Properties of Phosphorus and Its Compounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33921.2 Minerals and Ores of Phosphorus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34221.3 Thermodynamics of Phosphorus Reduction Reactions . . . . . . . . 34321.4 Preparation of Phosphorites for Electrofusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34421.5 Electric Furnaces for Phosphorus Reduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34521.6 Phosphorus Electrothermics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 346

22 Ferroselenium and Ferrotellurium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34922.1 Properties of Selenium, Tellurium and Their Compounds . . . . . 34922.2 Selenium and Tellurium Ores . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35122.3 Alloying Steel with Selenium and Tellurium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 352

23 Metallurgy of Electrocorundum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35523.1 Corundum Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35523.2 Electrocorundum Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35623.3 Normal Corundum Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357

24 Electrofused Fluxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36324.1 Requirements for Fluxes and Methods for Their Preparation . . . 36324.2 Flux Electrofusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36524.3 Impurities Behavior in Flux Electrofusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366

25 Preparation of Charge Materials for Ferroalloys Smelting . . . . . . . 36925.1 Drying Manganese Concentrates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36925.2 Sinter Production . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 370

25.2.1 Manganese Ore Sintering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37025.2.2 Chromium Ore Sintering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383

25.3 Pelletizing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38525.3.1 Cold Bonded Pellets (CBP) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 392

25.4 Briquetting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39725.4.1 Basic Industrial Technologies of Briquetting

in Ferrous Metallurgy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 397

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25.4.2 Metallurgical Properties of Brex on the Basisof Manganese Ore Concentrate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 415

25.4.3 Metallurgical Properties of Brex Based on ManganeseOre Concentrate and Baghouse Dustsof Silicomanganese Production . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417

25.4.4 Full-Scale Testing of Silicomanganese Smeltingwith Brex in the Charge of Submerged EAF . . . . . . . . 425

25.4.5 Metallurgical Properties of Briquettes Basedon Chromium-Containing Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 430

25.5 Charge Preheating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43825.6 Charge Prereduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44125.7 Firing Carbonate Manganese Concentrates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44425.8 Wastes and by-Products Processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 448References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 452

26 Ferroalloys Furnaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45726.1 Electric Ore-Smelting Furnaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45926.2 Refining Electric Furnaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 469

27 Self-baking Electrodes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47727.1 Self-baking Electrodes Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47727.2 Electrode Mass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47827.3 Electrode Mass Production Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48327.4 The Processes Occurring During Firing of the Electrode

Mass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 484

28 Ferroalloys Dispersion (Atomizing) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 489

29 Environmental Protection in Ferroalloys Industry . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49329.1 Basic Principles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49329.2 Characterization of Harmful Emissions in Ferroalloy

Production . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 494References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 497

Appendix A: Calculation of the Charge for Smelting High-CarbonFerromanganese by Flux Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 499

Appendix B: Calculation of the Charge for SmeltingFerrosiliconmanganese . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 509

Appendix C: The Charge Calculation for Smelting High-CarbonFerrochromium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 519

Recommended Bibliography. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 527

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About the Authors

Mikhail Gasik was born on June 30, 1929. He is Doctor of Technical Sciences(1969) and holds positions as Professor (1971), Academician of the NationalAcademy of Sciences of Ukraine (1990), Honored Foreign Member of the RussianAcademy of Sciences (2004), Foreign Member of the Georgian Academy ofSciences (2005) and Honorary Member of the Academy of Sciences of the Republicof Kazakhstan (2006). He has been awarded numerous prizes such as Laureateof the State Prize of the Ukrainian SSR (1977), Prize of the Council of Ministersof the USSR (1990), E.O. Paton Prize of the National Academy of Sciences ofUkraine (1995), State Prizes of Ukraine (1998, 2004), and Prizes named afterYaroslav the Wise of the Academy of Sciences of the Higher School of Ukraine(2002) and Prizes named after Z. I. Nekrasov National Academy of Sciences ofUkraine (2006). The main areas of scientific and scientific–pedagogical activity areas follows: fundamental studies of the problems of physical chemistry ofhigh-temperature interaction processes in metal and oxide systems based on man-ganese, silicon, chromium, aluminum. He has published number of scientific papers—over 420, including 21 scientific monographs and 5 textbooks for universities.

Viktor Dashevskii was born on October 13, 1933. He is Doctor of TechnicalSciences and holds positions as Professor of the National Research University“Moscow Institute of Steel and Alloys,” Head of the Laboratory of the Institute ofMetallurgy and Material Sciences named after A. A. Baykov, Russian Academy ofSciences, Council of Ministers of the USSR Prize Winner, Russian GovernmentPrize Winner, I. P. Bardin Prize of Russian Academy of Sciences Winner. He is awell-known specialist in physical chemistry of the metallurgical and oxide smelts,theory and practice of the ferroalloy electrothermal production. He is Author of abig amount of pioneer’s scientific researches. Scientific Society estimated highlycontribution of him into the metallurgical science—he had been chosen asMember-Correspondent of Russian Academy of Natural Sciences and ActingMember of the New York Academy of Sciences (USA). He has been included inMarquis Who’s Who in 1999.

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Aitber Bizhanov was born on October 6, 1956. He has a Ph.D. degree in theagglomeration of natural and anthropogenic materials in metallurgy. He graduatedfrom Moscow Physical Technical Institute in 1979, background—applied mathe-matics. Since 1981 to 1992, he was Researcher in the Institute for HighTemperatures of Russian Academy of Sciences. Since 1992, he is being involved inactivities related to recycling of metallurgical wastes. He is Author of more than 70publications including four books (two of them published by Springer) and is ownerand Co-author of 15 Russian patents in the field. He is Author and owner of the“BREX” trademark. With his personal participation, projects of briquetting ofnatural and anthropogenic raw materials of ferrous metallurgy were successfullyimplemented in a number of countries. He is Member of Institute for Briquettingand Agglomeration (IBA) since 2011. He has been included in Marquis Who’sWho on September 19, 2019.

xx About the Authors