Pelletizing iron ore fines is an agglomeration process that through a thermal treatment converts the ultra-fines fraction thereof into small balls ranging in size from 8mm (0.31 in.) to 18mm (0.71 in.), with adequate characteristics for feeding steel reduction works. The binder more used to make pellets is bentonite, which is an item of significant cost in the process. The present paper aims at evaluating the use of serpentinite instead of bentonite. The results obtained show that the full substitution of bentonite for serpentinite is unfeasible. However a potential does exist for using serpentinite and bentonite together in the iron ore palletizing process in the proportion of 1:1.
iron ore pelletizing; serpentinite; bentonite
