Effect of Carbon Content in Direct Reduction Process of Limonite Iron Oxide to Produce Pig Iron Substitute for Thin Wall Ductile Iron Process

Quality molten metal needed to produce thin wall ductile iron (TWDI). Pig iron, as the major base material to produce quality molten metal, due to its high price, has been change with scraps. The use of scrap as major base material associates with more cleaning and chemical composition adjustment. The ITmk3 technology in iron making has successfully produced iron nugget. Iron nugget can be use to substitute pig iron due to its quality that is comparable to pig iron but lower in price. This research conducted to see the effects of carbon content in producing iron nugget. Limonite iron ores used in this research are part of laterite rocks taken from Sebuku Island in South Kalimantan, Indonesia. Variation made to weight of carbon mixed with laterite. Heating temperatures of direct reduction process are 700°C, 900°C, and 1000°C. The process times are 10, 20, and 30 minutes. XRF used in analysing Fe content in laterite and XRD is used in analysing result of direct reduction process. The result shows that increasing carbon content to certain condition will increase the rate of gasification process during direct reduction. The increase of gasification rate will result to higher Fe formation.