Hadi Purwanto

Abstract:

As the second largest producer of oil palm biomass in Malaysia has been pyrolyzed for primary products of a bio-oil and significant by-product of char. This large portion of highly fine char particle that produced due to incomplete combustion is a big potential of renewable energy source. In this research, development process to benefit the local low-grade iron ore and the available solid waste as material and energy sources has been proposed. Malaysian iron ore was treated by using EFB char as reductant and heating the sample at 600°C caused a change in phase from iron oxide hydroxide to hematite phase but does not significantly improve the magnetic properties of the reduced ore. However, the presence of magnetite with the rise of temperature up to 800°C remarkably enhances the magnetic properties of iron ore as it is counted as a strong magnetic mineral. The magnetization diminishes as the ore was reduced into a partial of wustite at 900°C of reduction temperature. The magnetic susceptibility of artificial magnetite in reduced ore at 800°C approached the value of natural magnetite. The improvement of magnetic properties, particularly at 800°C of reduction temperature show that EFB char has a potential to be used as reducing agent in iron making and the reduced ore could be a promising route for the iron resource.