PROCESS FOR PRODUCING HOT BRIQUETTE IRON USING HIGH-TEMPERATURE REDUCED IRON, AND METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR TEMPERATURE CONTROL OF REDUCED IRON FOR HOT FORMING FOR THE PROCESS

摘要

This invention provides a process which can produce a good hot briquette machine using a reduced iron discharged at a high temperature from a reducing furnace such as a rotary hearth furnace. The process comprises a temperature control step of cooling the high-temperature reduced iron and, further, regulating the temperature at a temperature suitable for hot forming, i.e., a temperature of above 600°C and 750°C or below, and a step of subjecting the high-temperature reduced iron having a temperature suitable for hot forming to hot forming with a briquette machine to produce a hot briquette iron. The temperature control step comprises substantially horizontally holding a rotary drum provided with a spiral feed blade on its inner peripheral face, charging the high-temperature reduced iron into the rotary drum while maintaining a nonoxidizing atmosphere in the inside of the rotary drum using an inert gas and rotating the rotary drum to allow the high-temperature reduced iron to pass through the rotary drum, and bringing the outer peripheral face of the rotary drum into contact with a cooling fluid during the passage of the high-temperature reduced iron through the rotary drum to cool the reduced iron, whereby the reduced iron is indirectly cooled to a temperature suitable for hot forming.