Sodium silicate cold-bonded chromite pellets for the ferrochromium industry: identifying a suitable process

Chromite fines (defined as particles smaller than 6 mm) account for a significant fraction of mined South African chromite ore. These fines are pelletized to allow safe furnace smelting conditions. However, pelletization is an energy- and cost-intensive process that requires significant capital investment and has high operational costs as continuous curing temperatures of 1300 – 1500 °C are required. In this study, various cold-bonded pelletization processes were investigated to identify a process to prepare cold-bonded chromite pellets. A feasible process was identified and developed to produce mechanically strong chromite pellets using 3wt% sodium silicate-3 wt% SiO2 as the binder and KOH as an alkaline activator. The binding mechanism is based on the combined effects of sodium silicate and geopolymerization. It was determined that pellets cured at 75 °C had compressive strengths of 2.41 – 3.12 kN. The mechanical strength of these cold-bonded pellets where similar to, or exceed that of pellets currently used in the FeCr industry