Evaluation of the effect of a biomass fuel source on the thermal properties of iron ore sinter

• Calculation of the temperature dependence of the emissivity of iron ore sinter. • Multipart simulation of blast furnace heating environments. • Innovative use of IR thermal cameras. • Linear regression of thermal and physical properties. The knowledge around the effect of bioenergy on the thermal properties of iron ore sinter is not widely understood. Therefore, the effects of a 30 % biomass hybrid was investigated. Experiments placed samples in thermal environments encapsulating radiant, convective and conductive heating at increasing thermal gradients. Temperature data was collected using a longwave IR thermal camera, prompting a gap in literature knowledge – ”Does emissivity vary as sinter undergoes thermal change?” to be studied. Furnace data in the range of 200 °C–600 °C showed an increasing trend in emissivity from 0.82 to 0.93 with a deviation of < 2 % between 0 and 100 % hybrid samples. The results of the subsequent thermal tests indicated an initial barrier to energy absorption caused by the morphology of the sinter that decreased with the thermal gradient. Statistical analysis concluded that the 75 % blend, absorbed energy at a consistently high rate in all the heating environments. Linear regression analysis with x-ray fluorescence and diffraction data showed that the quantity of FeO, prismatic SFCA and platy SFCA had a measurable effect on the heating rate at 400 °C. However, as temperatures increased to 600 °C Fe 2 O 3 had more effect than FeO, with the SFCA phases maintaining their impact on heating rate.