As an important alloying element, ferrochrome plays an indispensable role in many industries such as steel, automobile, aerospace and so on. With the continuous development of science and technology, the ferrochrome production process is also constantly improved and optimized. This paper will introduce the current mainstream ferrochrome production process in detail, and discuss its sustainable development prospects.
1. Evolution of ferrochrome production process
In the past few decades, the ferrochrome production process has experienced the development from electric furnace melting method to ore furnace method and then to pre-reduction electric furnace method. Among them, the electric furnace melting method and the ore furnace method are more traditional production technology, and the pre-reduction electric furnace method is a more advanced production technology.
(1). Ferrochrome electric furnace melting method
Electric furnace smelting is a traditional production process in which raw materials such as chromite ore, coke and limestone are put into an electric furnace and heated to high temperature through electrodes to oxidize the chromium in the ore and react with the carbon in the coke to produce chromite. The advantages of this method are simple process and low investment cost, but the disadvantages are high energy consumption, large pollution and low production efficiency.
(2) Chromite hot furnace method
Ore furnace method is a kind of production process of putting chromium ore and carbon reducing agent into ore furnace, heating to high temperature through electrode, oxidizing chromium in ore and reacting with carbon to produce chromium. Compared with the electric furnace smelting method, the ore furnace method has higher energy utilization efficiency and lower pollution emission, but the problems of large electrode consumption and low chromium recovery still exist.
(3). Ferrochrome pre-reduction electric furnace method
The pre-reduction electric furnace process is a kind of production process which combines the ore furnace with the pre-reduction process. In the pre-reduction furnace, the ferrochrome ore is first pre-reduced with the reducing agent (such as coal, petroleum coke, etc.) at high temperature to generate partially reduced ferrochrome. Then, the pre-reduced ferrochrome ore is sent to the electric furnace for smelting, and finally the high purity ferrochrome is obtained. This process effectively reduces energy consumption and pollution, while improving the production efficiency of ferrochrome.
2. Ferrochrome pre-reduction electric furnace method
With the continuous development of industry, the pre-reduction electric furnace process has gradually become the mainstream production process of ferrochrome. Below we will introduce the process flow and advantages of pre-reduction electric furnace method in detail.
The process flow of ferrochrome pre-reduction electric furnace method is as follows:
(1) Ingredients: chromite ore, carbonaceous reducing agent, limestone and other raw materials are mixed according to a certain proportion to form the charge.
(2) Smelting: the charge is sent into the pre-reduction electric furnace, heated to high temperature through the electrode, so that the chromium in the ore is oxidized and reacts with carbon to generate partially reduced ferrochrome.
(3) Casting: the molten state of ferrochrome is poured into the mold, and the bulk or granular ferrochrome products are obtained after cooling.
(4) Product treatment: crushing, screening, surface treatment and other processes for ferrochrome products to meet the needs of different customers.
The pre-reduction electric furnace method has the following advantages:
(1) Low energy consumption: The pre-reduction electric furnace method uses the pre-reduction process to reduce the energy consumption of electric furnace smelting.
(2) Less pollution emission: The pre-reduction electric furnace method uses a closed operation in the production process, which effectively reduces the emission of pollutants such as waste gas and waste slag.
(3) High production efficiency: due to the addition of the pre-reduction process, the production cycle of ferrochrome is shortened and the production efficiency is improved.
(4) Good product quality: The chromite produced by pre-reduction electric furnace method has high purity and uniform particle size, and the product performance has been greatly improved.
The price of ferrochrome is competitive: as a manufacturer of ferro chrome, ZXferroalloy supplies the ferro chrome directly from our factory, and avoid unnecessary expenses.
