Reduction and Dissolution Behaviour of Manganese Slag in the Ferromanganese Process

Abstract

The reduction and liquidus behaviour of manganese slag with different basicities were studied in non-isothermal experiments in the temperature range of 1400–1500 °C. Certain amounts of quartz were added to Assmang ore (South Africa), and lime was added to Comilog ore (Gabon), to adjust the charge basicity to 0.5, 0.8 and 1.2. The extent of manganese ore reduction as a function temperature were determined by thermo-gravimetric (TG) balance. Morphology of ores and its change in the course of reduction was examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results show that the reduction rate of Assmang slag decreases with decreasing basicity, as the liquidus temperature of slag decreases. When spherical MnO phase is present, the activity of MnO is high, and the reduction rate is rapid. Comilog slags show a much higher reduction rate than Assmang slags. The activation energies of MnO reduction between 1400 to 1500 °C are estimated in this study and found to be 230 kJ/mol for Assmang charges and 470 kJ/mol for Comilog charges. The dissolution behaviours of Assmang and Comilog slags were also studied by FactSage simulation and verified by experiments.