INVESTIGATION ON THE MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF BASIC MANGANESE ORES BRIQUETTES USING ALCOTAC CB6 AS BINDER

Manganese ore fines generated during manganese production are either partially recycled as agglomerates using binders, or stored, leading to pollution, and negative environmental impacts due to landfilling. Fines have for long been considered as environmental unfriendly, loss if not recycled and stage threats in the metallurgical industry if not taken care of. Several binders have been tested especially inorganic binders to recondition the fines to be recycled for metal production. However, inorganic binders have been found to be detrimental to the products due to impurities that they carry. The current investigation has focused on testing the impact of organic binders on manages briquettes made from ore fines. Alcotac CB6 was used in this investigation, a specific compression has been adopted to make manganese briquettes. Results have demonstrated that the optimal briquette specifications of the basic manganese ore fines for industrial briquetting tests are 1.2 per cent Alcotac CB6 and 147 kN compressive strength. At these optimal specifications, the briquettes show a dry strength of 2750 kN after 48 hours of cool drying, which is strong enough to handle the mechanical abrasions of transportation in the plant, and the observed degree of disintegration is less than 5 per cent proving to yield stable furnace operations.