Obtaining Pig Iron Alloyed Which Ni and Cr by Carbothermic Reduction in a Direct Current Arc Furnace of Nicaro Tails from Nickel Production

• Amado Cruz-Crespo Centro de Investigaciones de Soldadura, Facultad de Ingeniería Mecánica e Industrial, Universidad Central “Marta Abreu” de Las Villas, Santa Clara, CP 54 830, Cuba https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0227-9853
• Jesús Ortiz-Bárcenas Departamento de Desarrollo, Grupo Empresarial de la Industria Sidero Mecánica, La Habana, CP 10800, Cuba https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3213-5597
• Lorenzo Perdomo-González Centro de Investigaciones de Soldadura, Facultad de Ingeniería Mecánica e Industrial, Universidad Central “Marta Abreu” de Las Villas, Santa Clara, CP 54 830, Cuba https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3425-1487
• Rafael Quintana-Puchol Centro de Investigaciones de Soldadura, Facultad de Ingeniería Mecánica e Industrial, Universidad Central “Marta Abreu” de Las Villas, Santa Clara, CP 54 830, Cuba https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8861-0270
• josé Pons-Herrera Departamento de Química y Metalurgia, Facultad de Metalurgia y Electromecánica, Universidad de Moa “Antonio Núñez Jiménez”, Moa, Holguín, CP 83330, Cuba https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5265-2962
• Gualberto Rosales-Martín Departamento Técnico, ACINOX Tunas, Ministerio de Industrias, Las Tunas, CP 75100, Cuba https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3313-8423

DOI: https://doi.org/10.22209/rt.v46a07

Keywords: pig iron, nickel production tailings, reductive fusion, carbothermic reduction, scrap replacement

Abstract

The existence residuals from nickle (Ni) production that could be used to obtain metallized materials in the steel production along with the insufficient availability of coke, leads us to think of alternative sustainable processes, based on more accessible reducers, such as non-coking coals. The objective of the research was to evaluate the production of pig iron alloyed with Ni and Cr by carbothermal reduction in a direct current arc furnace of tailings from the Ni production process in Nicaro, Cuba, without benefiting, using anthracite coal as a reducer in order to substitute scrap in the process to obtain alloy steels. For this purpose, theoretical calculations to obtain pig iron by carbothermal reduction were carried out to establish the composition of the charge and the experimental validation of obtaining pig iron was conducted. The amounts of the foundry products, their yields, the composition of the pig iron obtained and the recovery of Fe, Ni and Cr were determined. The study shows that it is viable to obtain pig iron alloyed with Ni and Cr, by means of carbothermal reduction in a direct current arc furnace of untreated Nicaro tailings, using anthracite coal as a reducer

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