The deposit-forming problem is one of the main bottlenecks restricting the yield and production benefit of iron ore pellets produced by coal-fired rotary kilns. In order to implement measures to ensure the efficient production of pellets by coal-fired rotary kilns, the mechanism and influencing factors on the deposit formation were reviewed. The pellet powder and coal ash come together to form the material base of the deposit. Meanwhile, the local reducing atmosphere caused by the continued combustion of residual carbon increases the FeO content, resulting in the formation of low-melting-point silicates. Moreover, alkali metal elements in coal ash can also promote liquid phase formation to cause serious deposit aggregation problems. During high-temperature roasting, the liquid phase corrodes the surface of the refractory brick to form the initial deposit, whereafter, it binds the pellet powder and coal ash from the material layer, which causes the deposit to accumulate continuously. The deposit formation of coal-fired rotary kilns is the result of interaction between many factors, which includes the quality of the green pellets, the composition of coal ash, the combustion efficiency of pulverized coal, roasting temperature, FeO content and alkali metal input. Finally, it is recommended that some measures to mitigate deposit formation can be adopted, such as increasing the compression strength of preheated pellets, choosing high-quality raw materials with low alkali metals, improving the combustion of pulverized coal.

The application of fluxed pellets in iron making industry has attracted considerable attention because of the better metallurgical properties than acid pellets and environmental friendliness compared to sinters. However, fluxed pellets with different binary basicity (CaO/SiO₂) exhibited significant differences in phase composition, microstructure and consolidation mechanism. These differences mainly stemmed from the influence of calcium-containing substances in fluxed pellets. Herein, the theoretical investigation discovered the calcium-containing substances from fluxed pellets, including calcium iron silicate, calcium silicate and complex calcium ferrite (SFCA), which determined the properties of fluxed pellets. Microstructure analysis revealed that the calcium-containing substances filled between hematite particles were used as a binding phase to assist in pellets’ consolidation. Furthermore, the calcium-containing binding phase formed in the low-basicity (0.4–1.0) pellets was mainly composed of the calcium iron silicate glassy phase, while the binding phase of the high-basicity (1.0–1.2) pellets was dominated by SFCA belonging to SiO₂-Fe₂O₃-CaO-Al₂O₃ multivariate system. In comparison, SFCA exhibited better crystallinity and reducibility than calcium iron silicate. Within the roasting temperature range of 1200–1250 °C, the increase of basicity contributed to the fluxed pellets obtaining better strength. To sum up, fluxed pellets with SFCA as the main calcium-containing binding phase can be obtained by increasing the basicity above 1.0–1.2, which was imperative for further improving the physical and metallurgical properties of fluxed pellets.

During the roasting process of fluxed pellets in a coal-fired rotary kiln, the incomplete combustion of pulverized coal injection accelerates deposit formation, which further limits the production efficiency of fluxed pellets. In order to eliminate the above problem, this study investigated the influence of MgO on deposit formation mechanism. The thermodynamic analysis revealed that MgO could increase the melting temperature of silicates in fluxed pellets with 0.8–1.2 basicity (CaO/SiO₂) when roasted at 1200–1250 °C, thereby decreasing the amount of liquid phase that formed initial deposits. XRD and SEM analyses of deposit simulants demonstrated that the addition of MgO was conducive to form magnesium magnetite and ferri-diopside, thereby avoiding the formation of hedenbergite with lower melting temperature. Moreover, the softening-melting performance and adhesivity tests confirmed that MgO had a positive effect on reducing liquid-phase deposition and inhibiting the adhesion of deposits on refractory bricks below 1250 °C. The above studies indicated that the addition of MgO helped to slow down the deposit formation of fluxed pellets prepared by coal-fired rotary kiln.