Pelletizing - Citizendia

Pelletizing is the process of compressed or molding of product into the shape of a pellet. A large range of different products are pelletized including chemicals, iron ore, animal compound feed, and more. A chemical substance is a Material with a definite chemical composition. Iron ores are rocks and Minerals from which Metallic Iron can be economically extracted Compound feeds are feedstuffs that are blended from various raw materials and additives

1 Pelletizing of iron ore
2 Pelletizing of animal feeds
3 See also

Pelletizing of iron ore

Pelletizing of iron ore produces spheres of typically 8—18 mm diameter. Iron ores are rocks and Minerals from which Metallic Iron can be economically extracted The process combines agglomeration and thermal treatment to convert the raw ore into pellets with characteristics appropriate for use in a blast furnace.

Preparation of raw materials

Additional materials are added to the iron ore (pellet feed) to meet the requirements of the final pellets. This is done by placing the mixture in the pelletizer, which can hold different types of ores and additives, and mixing to adjust the chemical composition and the metallurgic properties of the pellets. In general, the following stages are included in this period of processing: concentration / separation, homogenization of the substance ratios, milling, classification, increasing thickness, homogenization of the pulp and filtering. Homogenization (or homogenisation) is a term used in many fields such as Chemistry, Agricultural science, Food technology, Sociology

Formation of the raw pellets

The formation of raw iron ore pellets, also known as pelletizing, has the objective of producing pellets in an appropriate band of sizes and with mechanical properties high enough to maintain its usefulnes during the stresses of transference, transport, and use. Both mechanical force and thermal processes are used to produce the correct pellet properties.

Thermal processing

In order to confer to the pellets high resistance metallurgic mechanics and appropriate characteristics, the pellets are subjected to thermal processing, which involves stages of drying, daily pay burn, burn, after-burn and cooling (in a cooling tower). Cooling towers are heat removal devices used to transfer process waste heat to the Atmosphere. The duration of each stage and the temperature that the pellets are subjected to have a strong influence on the final product quality.

Pelletizing of animal feeds

Pelletizing of animal feeds can result in pellets from 1. 2 mm (shrimp feeds), through to 3—4 mm (poultry feeds) up to 8—10 mm (stock feeds). The pelletizing of stockfeed is done with the pellet mill machinery, which is done in a feed mill. A pellet mill is a type of mill used to create cylindrical pellets from a mixture of dry powdered feedstock such as Flour, Sawdust, or Grass

Preparation of raw ingredients

Feed ingredients are normally first hammered by a hammer mill to reduce the particle size of the ingredients. For the record label see Hammermill Records A hammermill is a machine whose purpose is to shred material into fine particles Ingredients are then batched, and then combined and mixed thoroughly by a feed mixer. Mixers are used in feed mills for the mixing of feed ingredients and premixes Once the feed has been prepared to this stage the feed is ready to be pelletized.

Formation of the feed pellets

Pelletizing is done in a pellet mill, where feed is normally conditioned and thermal treated in the fitted conditioners of a pellet mill. A pellet mill is a type of mill used to create cylindrical pellets from a mixture of dry powdered feedstock such as Flour, Sawdust, or Grass The feed is then pushed through the holes and a pellet die and exit the pellet mill as pelleted feed.

After pelleting processes

After pelleting the pellets are cooled with a cooler to bring the temperature of the feed down. Other post pelleting applications include post-pelleting conditioning, sorting via a screen and maybe coating if required.

Contents