TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relate generally to a technology for briquetting. More particularly,
the invention provides a process for briquetting of ferro manganese and silico
manganese fines.
BACKGROUND AND THE PRIOR ART
Ferro manganese and silico manganese fines are the finished product of smelting
process done in Sub Merged Arc Furnace. Liquid ferro alloy is tapped from tap hole of
the furnace and poured in the sand mould. It is allowed to cool till it solidifies and forms
cake. These cakes are fed to double toggle jaw crusher for crushing to the sizes of
>60mm, 25-60mm, 12-25mm and 3-12mm. During crushing, fines (0-10mm) fractions
are generated and they are screened out. These fines are very hard and cannot be
briquetted using water as the binder
In many of the reputed journals and papers it has been reported that briquetting and
palletisation are process of agglomeration of fines. It has been reported in many places
that agglomeration of iron ore, coal, chrome ore and lime fines are being done. Binder
for agglomeration of these fines is moisture
WO2010035289A1 disclosed a method of agglomeration of ferroalloy fines such as
ferromanganese, ferrochrome and ferrosilicon fines comprising the steps of: Providing
ferroalloy fines below 10mm size; Sieving Omm size fraction and crushing 3-10mm to
produce <3mm fines; mixing the resulted fines with a phenol formaldehyde resol resin
binder in a vessel; compacting the mixed fines in a compressive machine in batches to
form agglomerates; curing the agglomerates on heating in a furnace maintained at a
temperature range 150-200 DEG C for about 60 to 90 minutes.
JP57085938A disclosed a method obtain unfired briquettes with sufficient strength in a
simple process by coarsely pulverizing a thickener cake obtained by collecting dusts,
adding a prescribed amount of cement to the powder, and briquetting them after
adjusting the water content. A thickener cake is coarsely pulverized to 300W700 µm
average particle size so that powder having -44 µm occupies 15W50%. This powder is

mixed with 5W16% cement and adjusted to 5W25% water content after briquetting.
Thus, unfired briquettes containing ferromanganese dusts as the principal component
are obtained. The thickener cake is pulverized only with a pulverizer, and the sticking of
particle can be avoided practically in the curing process.
Therefore, the present invention provides a novel process of briquetting of ferro
manganese and silico manganese fines at room temperature using cement as a binder
which will provide sufficient strength to briquettes to maintain its shape and size during
transportation.
OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION
One object of the invention is to overcome the disadvantages/drawbacks of the
prior art.
A basic object of the present invention is to provide a process for briquetting of ferro
manganese and silico manganese fines of the size 0-10mm preferably 0-3mm.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a low cost briquetting of ferro
manganese and silico manganese.
These and other advantages of the present invention will become readily apparent from
the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The following presents a simplified summary of the invention in order to provide a
basic understanding of some aspects of the invention. This summary is not an extensive
overview of the present invention. It is not intended to identify the key/critical elements
of the invention or to delineate the scope of the invention. Its sole purpose is to present
some concept of the invention in a simplified form as a prelude to a more detailed
description of the invention presented later
In one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a process for briquetting of
ferro manganese and silico manganese fines. The process comprising steps of:

a. providing ferro manganese and silico manganese fines of the size 0-10mm
preferably 0-3mm;
b. mixing said fines with a plastic clay additive for a specified time and further mixing
cement slurry as a binder in said mixed fines for a specified time to produce a mix
of said fines;
c. aging of said mix produce from step (c) at room temperature for about 4-8 hours;
d. compacting said mix in a briquetting machine for preparing a briquettes of said mix;
e. curing said briquettes produce from step (e) at a room temperature for providing a
desired strength to said briquettes; wherein said curing of said briquettes comprising
i. self curing of said briquettes at normal temperature for about 16-24
hours;
ii. spraying water over said briquettes produce from step (i);
iii. soaking the water by said briquettes and drying said briquettes for
another about 16-24 hours.
f. storing said dry briquettes obtained from curing .
Other aspects, advantages, and salient features of the invention will become apparent to
those skilled in the art from the following detailed description, which, taken in
conjunction with the annexed drawings, discloses exemplary embodiments of the
invention
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS
The following drawings are illustrative of particular examples for enabling
methods of the present invention, are descriptive of some of the methods, and
are not intended to limit the scope of the invention. The drawings are not to scale
(unless so stated) and are intended for use in conjunction with the explanations
in the following detailed description.

Figure 1 illustrates the graphical plot of Properties comparing with other binders
at room temperature.
Figure 2 illustrates the photograph showing the arrangements of briquetting
machine which is used for making briquettes.
Figure 3 illustrates the process flow diagram for making briquettes by using
portland cement & clay.
Persons skilled in the art will appreciate that elements in the figures are
illustrated for simplicity and clarity and may have not been drawn to scale. For
example the dimensions of some of the elements in the figure may be
exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of
various exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure.
Throughout the drawings, it should be noted that like reference numerals are
used to depict the same or similar elements, features and structures.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
The following description with reference to the accompanying drawings is
provided to assist in a comprehensive understanding of exemplary embodiments
of the invention as defined by the claims and their equivalents. It includes
various specific details to assist in that understanding but these are to be
regarded as merely exemplary.
Accordingly, those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that various
changes and modifications of the embodiments described herein can be made
without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention. In addition,
descriptions of well-known functions and constructions are omitted for clarity
and conciseness.
The terms and words used in the following description and claims are not
limited to the bibliographical meanings, but, are merely used by the inventor to
enable a clear and consistent understanding of the invention. Accordingly, it

should be apparent to those skilled in the art that the following description of
exemplary embodiments of the present invention are provided for illustration
purpose only and not for the purpose of limiting the invention as defined by the
appended claims and their equivalents.
It is to be understood that the singular forms "a," "an," and "the" include plural
referents unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.
By the term "substantially" it is meant that the recited characteristic, parameter,
or value need not be achieved exactly, but that deviations or variations,
including for example, tolerances, measurement error, measurement accuracy
limitations and other factors known to those of skill in the art, may occur in
amounts that do not preclude the effect the characteristic was intended to
provide.
Features that are described and/or illustrated with respect to one embodiment
may be used in the same way or in a similar way in one or more other
embodiments and/or in combination with or instead of the features of the other
embodiments.
It should be emphasized that the term "comprises/comprising" when used in this
specification is taken to specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps or
components but does not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other
features, integers, steps, components or groups thereof.
The present invention is directed to developing a novel technology for
briquetting of ferro manganese and silico manganese fines which will have
sufficient strength so as to maintain its shape and size during transportation.
These briquettes will be charged in to the metallurgical furnaces like sub merged
arc furnace, arc furnace, basic oxygen furnace or steel ladle. Charging of fines in
these furnaces affects the metallurgical process like steel melting and refining. It
also affects the effectivity of the gas cleaning plants. Due to higher density of
these briquettes it easily melts with the steel and contributes in deciding the
chemistry of liquid steel.

These briquettes will be stored in the briquetting plant and later on it will be fed
to series of belt conveyors before charging it to metallurgical furnaces. During
this process of transportation of briquettes there will be many falls for the
briquettes. To check the ability of the briquettes to retain its size during
transportation Shatter test was conducted. Accompanying Figure 1 illustrates the
result and comparison of shatter test of briquettes made with different
combination of binders.
Figure 2 illustrates the arrangement of briquetting machine. Briquettes are
produced by pressing the ready mix between the rollers moving in opposite
direction to each other. These rollers have tires mounted on it having groves of
size 29x22x7.5mm. When the mix is fed in between the rollers a pressure of 30-
40KN/cm2 is generated and briquettes are made.
Strength is the combined effect of binder and specific pressure during
briquetting. Briquettes produced tries to release the pressure applied on them as
normal phenomena of material. During this process slight expansion is there on
the briquettes and due to this cracks and lamination occurs. Clay provides
plasticity to the mix which accommodates the stress and later on expansion and
saves the briquettes from cracks or lamination. With the use of cement as a
binder and clay as an additive crushing strength was found to be highest when
the briquettes were cured at room temperature as can be seen in Figure 1.
In the present invention cement is being used as binder and clay is being used as
additives. The chemical composition of the Cement discloses that there is nearly
61-67% of lime (CaO). Cement is the fine mixture of Calcium Silicates &
Calcium aluminates. Cements set and harden by reacting chemically with water.
During this reaction, called hydration, cement combines with water to form a
paste/slurry. When the paste (cement and water) is added to aggregates (ferro
manganese / silico manganese fines) it acts as an adhesive and binds the
aggregates together to form hard concrete type structure.

During hydration, the calcium silicates from the portland cement form calcium
hydroxide and calcium silicate hydrate (C-S-H). The rate of this reaction is
dependent on many factors including the type and proportion of portland cement
components (Calcium Silicates & Calcium aluminates), the fineness and particle
size distribution of the cement grains, and the curing conditions.
Curing Process for providing desired strength to manufactured briquettes
1. Curing is the process to control the rate of moisture loss during cement
hydration for better hardening. The manufactured briquettes are green and of little
strength. Therefore, there is need of curing the manufactured briquettes for desired
strength.
2. In this curing process, briquettes are kept for ~ 16-24 hours depending on the
climate, after that water is sprayed over them and kept for 16-24 hours. Cement
products achieves desired strength when cured under controlled atmosphere,
otherwise cracks will develop in the surface as the hydration reactions are
exothermic (evolution of heat) and the volume of cement increases with hydration.
3. Clay occupies the pores of the briquettes due to its fineness (-300µm) and
participate in lowering the evaporation rate of moisture and hence maintaining the
controlled atmosphere of curing.
4. According to the present invention curing is done at room temperature only.
Process steps for making Briquettes by using Portland cement & clay
1. Take weighed quantity of 0-3mm FeMn/SiMn fines in the Mixer
2. Add 2-3% of plastic clay over the fines.
3. Run the mixer for 3-5 minutes
4. Add 4-5% slurry of ordinary Portland cement. (Slurry means 1 part cement with
0.75 part water)
5. Run the mixer for another 10-15 minutes depending on the formation of lumps,
if the lump formation is not satisfactory add some more cement slurry and run
the mix accordingly.

6. Discharge the mix from the mixer and allow aging in open air for -4 hours.
(Consideration may be given for weather condition)
7. Charge the mix in the charging hoper of briquetting machine and start
briquetting.
8. Collect the briquettes and allow for -16-24 hours self curing in open air.
9. Spray water (normal temperature) over the briquettes.
10. Allow the briquettes for another -16-24 hours for soaking and drying.
11. Store the briquettes after drying.
In an embodiment of the present invention, there is provided briquettes comprising of
Ferro manganese and Silico manganese fines of the size 0-10mm preferably 0-3mm.
Another embodiment of the present invention is directed to use cement slurry as a
binder in amount of 3-5 % by weight, where 1 part of cement is mixed with 0.75 parts
of water to make slurry and use plastic clay as an additive in amount of 2-3 % by
weight.
Composition of the Ferro manganese and Silico manganese fines:



In another embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a process of
manufacturing briquettes in which ferromanganese and silico manganese fines of the
size range of 0 to 10mm preferably 0 to 3 mm are mixed with plastic clay in a high
intensive mixer for specified time (10 to 15 minutes). Then further mixing is done by
addition of cement slurry for specified time (10 to 15minutes).The mix thus obtained
thereafter kept in a covered area for specified duration preferably 4 to 8 hours for aging

and pressed in briquetting machine at specified pressure of 30 to 40 KN/cm2 . Briquettes
thus produced is self cured in specified temperature preferably at room temperature,
thereafter water is sprayed over briquettes and further cured at room temperature for
specified time, preferably 24 hours to get the required quality of the briquettes.

WE CLAIM:
1. A process for briquetting of ferro manganese and silico manganese fines, said
process comprising steps of:
a. providing ferro manganese and silico manganese fines of the size 0-
10mm preferably 0-3mm;
b. mixing said fines with a plastic clay additive for a specified time and
further mixing cement slurry as a binder in said mixed fines for a
specified time to produce a mix of said fines;
c. aging of said mix produce from step (c) at room temperature for about 4-
8 hours;
d. compacting said mix in a briquetting machine for preparing a briquettes
of said mix;
e. curing said briquettes produce from step (e) at a room temperature for
providing a desired strength to said briquettes; wherein said curing of
said briquettes comprising
i. self curing of said briquettes at normal temperature for about 16-
24 hours;
ii. spraying water over said briquettes produce from step (i);
iii. soaking the water by said briquettes and drying said briquettes for
another about 16-24 hours.
f. storing said dry briquettes obtained from curing .
2. The process as claimed in claim 1, wherein said binder is mixed with said fines
in a proportion of about 3-5 % by weight.

3. The process as claimed in claim 1, wherein said cement slurry comprises about 1
part of cement with about 0.75 part of water.
4. The process as claimed in claim 1, wherein said specified time of mixing of said
binder is about 10-15 minutes.
5. The process as claimed in claim 1, wherein said additive is mixed with said fines
in a proportion of about 2-3% by weight.
6. The process as claimed in claim 1 and 5, wherein said specified time of mixing
said additive is about 3-5 minutes.
7. The process as claimed in claim 1 and 5, wherein said additive fill up the pores
in said briquettes for lowering the evaporation rate of moisture.
8. The process as claimed in claim 1, wherein said briquettes in said briquetting
machine is pressed at a pressure of about 30-40 KN/cm2.

ABSTRACT

The present invention provides a process for briquetting of ferro manganese and silico
manganese fines. In the present invention cement is being used as binder and clay is
being used as additives. The curing process according to the present invention provides
sufficient strength to manufactured briquettes to maintain its shape and size during
transportation. Curing of the briquettes is done at room temperature only. The present
invention provides a low cost briquetting of ferro manganese and silico manganese.