A Sustainable Way to Produce Mn-Sinter with Charcoal

Abstract Biocarbon is a suitable replacement to traditional coke because it is a promising approach to reduce CO 2 emissions and it is compatible with current metallurgical processes, where solid materials are favored. The industrial-scale use of biocarbon in manganese ore sintering remains rare or largely unexplored. In this study, manganese sinters were produced using charcoal in a sintering pot, with particular emphasis on its impact on the physical properties and phase composition of sinters. The results demonstrate that substituting coke with charcoal can produce sinters of comparable/higher quality and productivity than those made exclusively using coke breeze, provided the charcoal content does not exceed 30%. It is considered that the manganese oxides are existing in the forms of Mn 3 O 4 and MnO in the sinter. Three distinct phases were identified based on their different morphological features from phase characterization. The first phase consists of (Mn,Fe)O and (Mn,Fe) 3 O 4 , and the second phase is an Al 2 O 3 -rich phase containing Mn-oxides, while the third phase is a manganese-containing silicate ((Mn,Fe) 2 SiO 4 ). The strength of sinter was also discussed; the results show that the strength first decreases and then increases with increasing charcoal content. When the charcoal content is between 40 and 60%, the sinters exhibit a lower strength. Graphical Abstract