Preparation of reduced iron powder using combined distribution of wood-charcoal by microwave heating

• Preparation of reduced iron powder using combined distribution of wood-charcoal was investigated.
• The reduction mechanism of reduced iron by the wood-charcoal was revealed.
• The demonstration of microwave techniques can be applied to the preparation of reduced iron powder.

In this paper, the influences of microwave heating with wood-charcoal as the reducing agent, on the reducing characterization of mill-scale were systematically investigated. The microstructures of the samples were characterized before and after microwave heating using SEM. The SEM analysis results indicated that the high-grade reduced iron powders were prepared using microwave heating. It was concluded that microwave heating technologies can be applied effectively and efficiently to the reduction process processes of iron ore concentrate.