Kinetics of iron oxide reduction in molten slag

Abstract

Experiments on reduction of FeO in molten slag have been carried out using a graphite crucible in a 50 kW capacity plasma reactor. The crucible surface serves as reductant which implies that reduction of FeO takes place by solid carbon. Influence of amount of FeO in slag, crucible surface area, initial slag height and CaF2 addition on reduction rate has been investigated. It is shown that the kinetics follows a 1st order reaction which implies that FeO diffusion in the slag phase controls the rate. Linear variation of the rate constant with respect to FeO variation confirms this.