| Title |
Effect of Sodium Silicate Binder Additives on the Fabrication Characteristics of Cold Briquettes |
| Authors |
배민아(Min A Bae) ; 김양도(Yang do Kim) ; 백재호(Jae Ho Baek) |
| DOI |
https://doi.org/10.3365/KJMM.2026.64.1.57 |
| ISSN |
1738-8228(ISSN), 2288-8241(eISSN) |
| Keywords |
Inorganic Binder; Briquette; Iron ore; Cold briquette |
| Abstract |
In recent years, the steel industry has been actively pursuing the development of cold briquetting
technology for iron ore as a response to both resource depletion and the urgent demand for carbon dioxide
(CO2) emission reduction. Compared with conventional sintering and pelletizing processes, cold briquetting
at ambient temperature can significantly reduce energy consumption by eliminating the high-temperature
firing step. Moreover, by directly charging briquettes made from natural iron ore into the blast furnace, the
reaction efficiency inside the furnace can be improved, which in turn reduces coal consumption of coal and
contributes to the overall decarbonization of the ironmaking process. However, to enable their direct use in
the blast furnace, the briquettes must exhibit sufficient strength under both ambient and elevated
temperature conditions. In this study, a composite binder system was synthesized using sodium silicate was
employed as the main component due to its excellent thermal stability. To further enhance the binding
performance, controlled amounts of sodium hydroxide and hexametaphosphate were incorporated into the
binder formulation. The chemical bonding structure of the synthesized binder was systematically analyzed
to clarify the mechanism of strength development in the binder. Using the optimized binder, cold briquettes
were fabricated using the optimized binder and their mechanical properties were evaluated under both room
and high-temperature conditions. The experimental results enabled the determination of the optimum binder
composition and provided useful insights into the practical applicability of sodium silicate-based binders for
cold briquette production in blast furnace operations. |