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Chromite Ore Processing Plant Muslim Bagh Pakistan
Chromite Ore Processing Plant Muslim Bagh Pakistan
MUSLIMBAGH PAKISTAN
22-10-2020
Table of Contents
1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 4
1.1 Metallurgical Grade.......................................................................................................... 4
1.2 Chemical Grade ................................................................................................................ 4
1.3 Foundry Grade.................................................................................................................. 5
1.4 Refractory Grade .............................................................................................................. 5
2 World Chromite ore reserves, imports and exports ................................................................ 6
3 Chromite Ore - Country wise import and export statistics of ................................................. 6
4 Chromium Ore Exports ........................................................................................................... 7
5 World Chrome and Ferrochrome imports of different countries (2017) ................................ 8
6 Key supply and demand drivers .............................................................................................. 9
6.1 Ferrochrome: .................................................................................................................... 9
6.2 Chrome ore supply and demand ....................................................................................... 9
6.3 Historical and forecasted chrome ore and Ferrochrome prices ........................................ 9
6.4 Furnaces used in Ferrochrome production ..................................................................... 10
6.4.1 Closed arc Furnace .................................................................................................. 10
6.4.2 Open Arc furnace process ....................................................................................... 13
6.5 High carbon Ferrochrome Production ............................................................................ 13
6.5.1 Expected recovery ................................................................................................... 15
7 Chromite in Pakistan (A Case study) .................................................................................... 16
7.1 Mineralization ................................................................................................................ 16
7.2 Processing of ore (Beneficiation) ................................................................................... 17
7.3 Production of Ferrochrome (Case study of Steelpoort mine, South Africa) .................. 18
7.3.1 Consumption of electricity (Xiaowei, 2014) .......................................................... 19
7.3.2 Heating requirements .............................................................................................. 19
7.4 Operational Cost of Ferrochrome plant .......................................................................... 20
8 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................ 21
9 References ............................................................................................................................. 22
List of figures
Figure 1 Material flow of chromite ore........................................................................................... 5
Figure 2 Chrome ore supply and demand ....................................................................................... 9
Figure 3 Ferrochrome supply and demand ..................................................................................... 9
Figure 4 Chrome ore demand and ferrochrome supply ................................................................ 10
Figure 5 Palletizing and Sintering process of chromite ore .......................................................... 12
Figure 6 Schematic of closed arc furnace (Visser, 2006) ............................................................. 12
Figure 7 Schematic of open arc furnace smelting process ............................................................ 13
Figure 8 Mineralization of Muslimbagh chromite ore (Nakagawa, et al., 1996) ......................... 17
Figure 9 Liquidus and solidus temperatures of different chemical compositions for ferrochrome
....................................................................................................................................................... 20
List of tables
Table 1 World chromite ore reserves and production details ......................................................... 6
Table 2 Country wise import statistics of chromite ore .................................................................. 7
Table 3 Country wise Chromite ore exports 2018 (OEC, 2020) .................................................... 8
Table 4 World ferrochrome importing countries ............................................................................ 8
Table 5 Minerology of high carbon ferrochrome and charge chrome .......................................... 14
Table 6 Ferrochrome recovery of different furnaces .................................................................... 15
Table 7 Mineralogy of feed, products, off gasses and expected recovery of ferrochrome with pre-
heating and sintering process ........................................................................................................ 15
Table 8 Constituents of before and after beneficiation (Gulzar, et al., 2016)............................... 17
Table 9 Comparison of Steelpoort and Muslimbagh ore .............................................................. 18
Table 10 Components for the production of Ferrochrome ........................................................... 18
Table 11 Operational cost of ferrochrome production plant ......................................................... 20
1 Introduction
Chromium is an important mineral in today`s world. It exist as chromite ore in earth crust. The
chemical formulae of chromite ore is FeCr2O4. It is an oxide mineral of spinel group. The iron in
the group can also be replaced by Magnesium (Mg). It is typically found in the form of large mafic
igneous intrusions such as Bushveld. It is also found in metamorphic rocks and occurs in the forms
of layers composed of fine granular aggregates. The major use of chromium is in the production
of stainless steel. Chromite ore is mined to form ferrochrome, ferrosilicon and ferromanganese.
Ferrochrome is the primary constituent of stainless steel and a large quantity of ore is converted to
ferrochrome. South Africa hosts a large reserves of chromite ore and is exporting its ore to different
countries including China. China is the major importer of chromite ore due to a huge demand
within China and to meet large export requirements of ferrochrome, ferromanganese and
ferrosilicon.
The demand of chrome ore is generally driven by the use of ferrochrome, with more than 90.0%
being used for metallurgical purposes. The majority of metallurgical grade chrome concentrate is
utilized in the production of ferrochrome. In turn, the largest consumer of ferrochrome is stainless
steel. Approximately 5.0% of demand is derived for chemical industry and the remaining in
foundry and refractory industries. The major classification of ferrochrome is given below and the
followed by the material flow of chromite ore Figure 1.
1
The shipping grade deposit quantity and grade is normalized to 45% Cr 2O3. For US the shipping grade is 7% Cr2O3
and for Finland the grade is normalized to 27% Cr 2O3.
Table 2 Country wise import statistics of chromite ore
6.2 Ferrochrome:
The forecast of the demand of ferrochrome is shown in figure 3. The demand of ferrochrome is
expected to increase from12 million tonnes in 2020 to 15 million tonnes in 2022. It is expected to
grow further as the demand of stainless steel will increase.
In closed arc furnace, the charge is preheated using the off gasses before adding it to the electric
arc furnace. The preheating helps in saving energy required for melting. A gas scrubber is attached
to the main furnace to entrap the gasses being produced during the process. The pure molten metal
is transferred to the granulation plant where the granules are produced. The slag formed is then
retreated and the metal is then casted into ingots and then is dispatched. The raw material to the
closed AC smelting furnace should be in agglomerated or screened, lumpy form. Raw materials
are chromite pellets and lumpy ore, coke as reductant, and quartzite for fluxing. The schematic of
a closed arc furnace is shown in figure 6.
The pelletizing and sinter process for the chromite ore is shown in figure 5. Feed material is fed to
the grinding mill to homogenize the raw material mixture. Coke is majorly used as source of energy
for the process, however, char and gas coke can also be used instead of coke. Fine coke (<4 mm)
is added to the ore concentrate before milling. In the milling circuit, the concentrate mixture is wet
milled in an open circuit ball mill. The purpose of milling is to mill the mixture to a particular
grain size distribution, which is suitable for pelletizing and sintering. The required grain size
distribution is >80% of the fraction less than 74 mm. Ceramic filters are used to dewater the slurry
from the mill into a filter cake. The moisture content of the filter cake is normally about 8.5% to
9%. The filter cake is collected in a number of filter cake bins, which are equipped with disc
feeders to measure and control the feed of material to the pelletizing circuit. Bentonite is used as
a binding agent in the pelletizing process and is added in a very fine powder form to blend
homogeneously with the filter cake. Dust from the pelletizing plant dust scrubber can be recycled
and blended with the milled material. This dust is already in an oxidized form and its addition to
the mill has an adverse effect on sintering. The total feed of already sintered recycling material
must therefore be limited to a maximum range of 3% to 4% of the concentrate to ensure the
production of good quality pellets. The proportioned materials are then well mixed in a mixer
before pelletizing in a pelletizing drum, resulting in pellets with an average diameter of 12 mm.
The sintering furnace is a multicompartment unit through which the green pellets are carried on a
perforated steel conveyor belt. The counter-current flow of cooling gases carries waste heat from
sintered pellets to those entering the front-end compartments. Sintered pellets are used as a bottom
layer on the steel belt to protect it from excessive temperatures. The temperature of the bed is
increased gradually to the sintering temperature. The temperature depends upon the mineralogy of
ore and is around 1400 to 1500 O C.
Figure 3 Palletizing and Sintering process of chromite ore
In the open arc furnace process, the raw materials including ore, flux and reductants are mixed and
then fed to the furnace. The chromite ore is reduced with carbon to form alloy. The process is
highly endothermic and the energy is supplied through carbon electrodes. The flux is added to treat
the slag so that it can be easily tapped out. The schematic of the open arc furnace is shown in the
figure 7 (Visser, 2006). The molten metal is poured into a ladle and the slag is then transferred to
the next ladle from the top. In open furnace, the carbon monoxide formed is burnt with oxygen in
the furnace to form carbon dioxide.
High carbon ferrochrome represents a group of alloys with a chromium content typically between
60% and 70% and a carbon content typically between 4% and 6%. To meet this specification the
alloy requires a chromite ore with a high Cr/Fe ratio (>2). The silicon content in conventional high
carbon ferrochrome is normally below 2%, whereas the thermodynamic equilibrium allows charge
chrome larger flexibility in terms of silicon content, which can vary between 2% and 5%. The
silicon content in the alloy is dependent on the chosen production technology route and the selected
slag operating regime. High carbon ferrochrome is an intermediate product and is used as a feed
material in the production of value-added materials such as stainless steel.
Typical product types for high carbon ferrochrome are crushed lumpy product with a silvery
metallic appearance and irregular, flaky granulated product with a greenish appearance.
High carbon ferrochrome does not have a single specification, as the ores in different regions
differ, which impacts on certain components in the alloy (e.g., Cr, Fe, and C). Furthermore, the
smelting process (slag metallurgy or technology route) employed also impacts on particular
components in the alloy (e.g., Si, S). Finally, the type of reductant used will also impact on
particular components (e.g., P). Therefore, rather than a universal standard specification, producers
generally have their own specifications, which depend on their particular process and set of raw
materials. Minor elements in the alloy are not normally specified, but could attract premiums from
particular specialty steel producers (e.g., Ti). Sizing specifications are typically in accordance with
the client’s requirements, which, in some cases, depend on the transport and product-charging
infrastructure at their facilities. A lumpy product would typically have a bottom size limit of 6 or
10 mm and top size limit of 50 mm or larger. Material below 6 or 10 mm is classified as fines and
normally attracts a discount. Weight adjustments are made for moisture content. Granulated
material follows the same size pattern, but the size distribution is not determined by the crushing
and screening process but rather by the granulation process. Unlike the cast product, granulated
material is porous and could entrap some moisture, which could be viewed as being a process risk
for the client. Granulated material generally also has a lower bulk density. The minerology of high
carbon ferrochrome and charge chrome is shown in the table 5. The quality of ferroalloys depends
on the following parameters:
• Variation in chemical composition and size: density, surface conditions, nonmetallic and
slag inclusions, and gases (oxygen, hydrogen).
• Content of the leading element.
• Size distribution.
Elements
Sr# Alloy Type %Cr %Si %C %P %S
1 HC 60-70 <2 <8 <0.015 <0.02
Ferrochrome 2-3 <0.03 <0.04
<6
<0.05 <0.06
2 Charge 50-55 2-3 <0.015 <0.02
Chrome 3-4 <8 <0.03 <0.04
4-5 <0.05 <0.06
Table 7 Mineralogy of feed, products, off gasses and expected recovery of ferrochrome with pre-
heating and sintering process
The concentration of Cr2O3 was increased from 34.92% to 48% (an increase of 37.45%). There is
a considerable decrease in the quantity of SiO2 i-e from 17.30% to 6.30%. It shows that the major
constituent of the gangue material is SiO2 and a small amount of MgO was also removed.
The major smelting parameters (inputs and outputs) used for the formation of high carbon
ferrochrome are listed in table 10. For the production of 1 tonne of ferrochrome 2202.02 Kg ore
was used. The energy consumption for the process is 3.33 MWH/t which is equal to 3330 KWH/t.
It shows that for 1 tonne of ferrochrome 3330 units of electricity is required.
Sr # Components Quantity
1 Ore 2202.2 Kg/t
2 Quartzite 455.73 Kg/t
3 Coke 490.86 Kg/t
4 Slag -1350.10 Kg/t
5 Carbon monoxide -684.61 Kg/t
6 Electricity 3.33 MWH/t
As mentioned earlier, the cost of electricity forms the major part of production cost which is equal
to 35 to 40%. The consumption of electricity can be divided into 3 different stages namely heating,
reduction of oxides and formation of molten slag and metal. The heating and reduction of oxides
required most of the electrical energy which is approximately 97%. If we further break down the
energy consumptions then the heating consumes 52% and reduction counts 45% of the energy.
The electricity requirement for heating can be reduced by pre-heating the charge using natural gas
or off gasses. The remaining 3% is used in the formation of molten slag and metal.
The recommended liquidus temperature of ferroalloy is up to 1500°C, for ferrochrome the liquidus
temperature is 1490-1620°C, the solidus temperature 1470-1620°C. The presence of different
elements in ore can change the operating temperatures. Figure 9 shows the effect of chemical
compositions on liquidus and solidus temperatures.
Figure 7 Liquidus and solidus temperatures of different chemical compositions for ferrochrome
7.4 Operational Cost of Ferrochrome plant
The operational cost for ferrochrome production is shown in the table 11. The chromite ore used
in the calculation is contains 45% chromium. The total cost per tonne of ferrochrome is 1,71,776
rupees which is 1073.55 $US ( assuming 1 US$ = 160 Pkr). The profit margin is between 307
US $- 407 US $ per tonne. Table 12 shows the per tonne cost of human resource for the plant.
Total cost
Components Quantity (kg/t) Per unit Price (Pkr/t)
(Pkr)
Raw Materials
Chromite ore 2202.00 38295.00 84325.59
Quartzite 455.73 9657.00 4400.98
Coke 490.86 66600.00 32691.28
Power Input Quantity (Kwh/t) Per unit Price (per/Kwh)
Electricity 3330.00 15.00 49950.00
Total
Human resource Quantity Cost per tonne
Salary/Month
Person required 12.00 600,000 400.00 400.00
Total Cost (pkr) 171767.85
Total Cost (US$/tonne) 1073.55
Min. Market selling price (US$/tonne) 1380
Max. Market selling price (US$/tonne) 1480
Min. Profit (US$/tonne) 307
Max. Profit (US$/tonne) 407
Min. Rate of return (%) 28.61
Max. Rate of return (%) 37.93
8 Conclusion
The production of ferrochrome from chromite ore in Muslimbagh area in Pakistan is discussed in
this study. For the production of ferrochrome it is advised that the technology route of Steelpoort
mine South Africa can be used as discussed in section 7.3 as the mineralogy of ore from Steelpoort
mine is almost similar to the ore produced in the Muslimbagh area. The rate of return is around
28.61% - 37.93% which makes the process economical to proceed. It is suggested that the
mineralogical and metallurgical tests should be conducted in the area as a part of further studies.
9 References
Gulzar, A., Ali, Q., Bajwa, A. & Asghar, A., 2016. STUDY ON THE PREPARATION OF
SODIUM CHROMATE FROM LOW GRADE CHROMITE OF MUSLIMBAGH PAKISTAN.
Sci.Int, Volume 28(1), pp. 349-351.
Nakagawa, M., Siddiqui, R. H. & Hoshino, K., 1996. Preliminary Assessment on liitramafics-
Related Mineralization of Muslim. Islamabad, Proceedings of Geoscience Colloquium..
OEC, 2020. OEC. [Online]
Available at: https://oec.world/en/profile/hs92/52610
[Accessed 17 August 2020].
Tharisa, 2018. Integrated annual report 2018, s.l.: Tharisa.
USGS, 2020. Chromium. [Online]
Available at: https://pubs.usgs.gov/periodicals/mcs2020/mcs2020-chromium.pdf
[Accessed 17 September 2020].
Visser, M., 2006. An Overview of the History and Current Operational Facilities of Samancor
Chrome. South African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, pp. 285-296.
Xiaowei, P., 2014. Chrome ore on Ferrochrome smelting. Abu Dhabi, 3rd International
Conference on Mechanical, Electronics and Mechatronics Engineering (ICMEME'2014).