EFFECT OF FEED MIX PROPERTIES AND SURFACTANT APPLICATION ON ENERGY CONSUMPTION AND PRODUCTIVITY OF AN INDURATION MACHINE: INDUSTRIAL ASSESSMENT AND PREDICTIVE MODELLING
Abstract
The article investigates the energy consumption of an induration machine, which performs the full cycle of thermal treatment of iron ore pellets – from drying and preheating to induration, heat recovery, and cooling. Particular attention is given to the influence of the physicochemical properties of the feed mix, specifically its moisture content, particle size distribution, and the use of surfactants (surface-active agents), on the overall specific consumption of electric power and natural gas, as well as on the unit’s productivity. Industrial- scale trials were conducted at one of the leading iron ore beneficiation plants in the Kryvbas region in connection with a transition from a baseline (in-house) concentrate to raw material produced by another regional plant, which had been pre-treated with a nonionic surfactant.It was found that the increased fineness and hydrophilicity of the new concentrate required additional moisture to be added to the feed mix, which significantly affected the thermal regime of the machine and overall energy consumption. Based on the collected experimental data, regression models were developed to quantitatively predict the specific consumption of electricity and gas as functions of technological parameters. The results demonstrate that the key influencing factors are the moisture content of the feed mix and the daily productivity of the induration unit. An increase of 17.73% in specific electricity consumption and 33.25% in specific natural gas consumption was recorded, accompanied by a 9.55% reduction in throughput. These findings are relevant for professionals in the fields of energy management, power engineering, and thermal analysis in metallurgy, particularly when designing strategies to optimize energy consumption under industrial operating conditions.
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