A Hydrometallurgical Process to Produce Iron Powder from Scrap Iron

CIM Bulletin, 1970

The process described has been developed to utilize low grade scrap - turnings, borings, tin cans and other types of ferrous scrap which currently has been of limited or ~o use in conventional steelmaking processes. If scrap of this type can be converted into high-purity iron by chemical means then there is a potential saving of several million tons of metal annually in North America. The process is chemically quite simple and consists of dissolving ferrous scrap in hydrochloric acid, followed by evaporation and crystallization of the resultant solution to yield ferrous chloride crystal.s. These crystals are dried, briquetted and converted to non sponge by reduction m hot hydrogen. The HCl produced from the reduction step. is absorbed in water and the hydrochloric acid so produced is returned to the dissolver circuit. The hydrogen produced from the initial dissolution of the scrap is used to reduce the ferrous chloride. Purity is maintained by bleeding off impure chloride solutions from the evaporator-crystallizer circuit, and converting these chlorides to oxides and HCI in a high-temperature spray roaster. The HCl produced in the roaster is absorbed in water and the hydrochloric acid returned to the dissolver.

Mots Clés: Chloride, Chlorides, ferrous, hydrochloric acid, hydrogen, manganese, Peace River, Iron, Manganese, Plants, Process, Processes, Reactors, Reduction, Scrap