Direct reduction of oxidized iron ore pellets using biomass syngas as the reducer

The X-ray diffraction (XRD) and metallographic microscope analyses of the oxidized pellets and direct reduced iron (DRI) products showed that, the reduction process followed the reaction scheme: Fe2O3 → FeO → Fe. A kinetics analysis indicated that, the reduction rate was controlled by an interfacial chemical reaction with syngas and that the activation energy was 104.76 kJ/mol. The effect of syngas as the reducing gas on the reduction of iron ore pellets was similar to that of natural gas. The use of biomass during DRI production can eliminate CO2 emissions, energy crisis, and climate change.