Direct chromium alloying by smelting reduction of mill scale and low grade chromite ore

Direct alloying is the process in which all of the elements needed for alloying can be reduced from their oxides in a furnace or a ladle. This process is one way of reducing the amounts of energy and materials, reducing the loss of alloying elements, and improving working condition. Mill scale produced in rolling mills is considered a rich iron source (> 67% Fe) with minimum impurities. In this paper, iron high-Cr alloy was produced by a direct alloying with chromium in carbo- thermal reduction using fine of low grade chromites ore and mill scale. The smelting experimental heats were carried out in a 5 kg pilot plant submerged electric arc furnace. The charging materials and reduction parameters were varied and the optimum conditions for obtaining alloy with the highest metallic yield and the highest iron and chromium recovery were determined. When using coke as the reducing agent in stoichiometric amounts, for a mixture of mill scale (55%) and chromite ore (45%), 89.1% of the iron and 72.5% of the chromium were recovered, producing iron high-Cr alloy containing 17.9%Cr, 3.73%C, 0.46%Mn and 1.47%Si. The maximum iron and chromium recoveries obtained were 99.3% and 72.5%, respectively when using excess carbon. The present study clarifies the possibility of using a mixture of chromite ore , mill scale and coke as the precursor for direct chromium alloying. This method offers an alternative process route with cheaper raw materials and fewer process steps (by avoiding the step of ferrochrome production) for producing high chromium iron or steel alloys.