Reducing the environmental impact of blast furnaces by means of red mud from alumina production

Abstract

A serious environmental impact of Russian blast furnaces is the generation of copious dust on account of the low strength of the sinter and pellets employed. Their strength may be increased if red mud from alumina production is introduced in the initial batch. A problem here is that the red mud lowers the iron content in the blast-furnace batch. However, this effect may be compensated by reducing the content of fines in the batch, according to research on the chemical composition of Russian blast-furnace batch. The minimum iron content in the red mud at which such compensation is feasible is established.