The off-gas discharged from a blast furnace is de-dusted in a first stage by a dust catcher or a cyclone. The separated dust consists mainly of iron and coke. Therefore, most of this dust is recycled in the SINTER plant. A higher Zn content of the dust is undesirable because the allowed Zn content in the SINTER feed material is limited. The reduction of the Zn content of the dust by a simple process would be helpful in the case of higher Zn content in the blast furnace dust. In classification experiments, it has been demonstrated that the Zn content of the blast furnace dust increases with decreasing particle size. Thus, air classification of the dust can be applied to separate the Zn-enriched fines. By separating a small fraction of fines (about 10-20 %) from the blast furnace dust, a reduction of the mass of Zn in the remaining coarse fraction for recycling in the range of 40-60 % is possible and only 5-10 % of the carbon is lost.

In iron ore SINTER plants, the process off-gas is de-dusted by electrostatic precipitators which are installed upstream of the fan. For further reduction of emissions, a second cleaning stage can be installed. This stage usually comprises a sorption process for removal of acid gases and polychlorinated dibenzo (p) dioxins and furans, followed by a fabric filter. The residue from the first de-dusting stage can be recirculated to the SINTERing process. The residue from the second cleaning stage has to be disposed of in landfill sites. A new single-stage off-gas cleaning concept for SINTER plants comprises an entrained flow sorption process and a fabric filter, installed upstream of the fan. In this way, the investment costs for the off-gas cleaning system can be reduced significantly. However, it would become necessary to dispose of most of the residue. In this work, air classification of a residue equivalent to that of a single-stage off-gas cleaning unit was investigated with the aim of producing a fraction of this residue with reduced sulphur and chloride concentrations which can then be recycled. The results confirm that air classification is a suitable process. In order to maintain raw mixture targets for chlorine or to avoid chlorine enrichment in the raw feed, the recommended dust recycling rate is 66% with air classification which is an improvement over the allowed rates without air classification of 42%.

Introduction: Hot spring water is used for health and medical treatment. Hot spring water, when passing underground rocks, is contaminated with radioactive materials and water soluble SINTER. Therefore, using Hot springs is associated with radiation hazards. There are Thorium (Th), Potassium (K), Uranium (U) and Caesium (Cs) as radioactive elements in SINTER, soil and water of hot springs.Materials: First, the Th, K, U and Cs activity in the SINTER, soil and water of Jooshan Hot Spring (30°09'38.7"N, 57°35'58.7"E) was measured by a CsI(Tl) detector. Then, using the radiation hazards equations, the amount of radiation hazards caused by radioactive elements in the SINTER, soil, and Hot spring water was investigated.Results: The XRD results indicated that the SINTER composite of Jooshan Hot Spring is a combination of CaCO3 and SiO2 materials. The activity of Th, U, K and Cs elements in the water, SINTER, and soil of hot spring were 38.76 ,11.07 ,0 and 3.05; 45.8, 2.77 and 3.05 Bq/kg, and 26.42 ,34.0, 0 and 12.19 Bq/kg, respectively. The radiation hazards of Jooshan Hot Spring using the radiation hazards equations was calculated.Conclusion: Due to the activity of Th, K, U, and Cs, the radiation injuries or hazards, including Daeq, Hin, and Hout for the SINTER soil and water were calculated to be less than the reported limit. Therefore, using Jooshan Hot Spring has not any radiation hazards

The current research focuses on the synthesis and characterization of sodium potassium niobate (KNN), a lead-free piezoelectric compound. The objective is to replace lead-based compounds like PZT using KNN-LST, which is sodium potassium niobate piezoceramic powder doped with lithium, antimony, and tantalum. To this end, solid-state method was employed to SINTER the samples at 1110 °C with varying percentages of NiO SINTER aid (0%, 0.75%, 1.5%, and 2.25%). X-ray diffraction analysis confirmed the formation of pure KNN-LST perovskite phase at 1110 °C with a composition containing 1.5% NiO. Scanning electron microscope images also demonstrated that cubic particles inherent in KNN were observed in samples with no NiO addition as well as those containing 0.75% and 1.5% NiO; however, these particles were transformed into cylindrical grains when incorporating 2.25% NiO. With an increase in the SINTERing percentage from zero NiO content to higher amounts, sample density also increases from approximately 85% up to its peak at around 94%, followed by a slight decrease by about 91%. Similarly, the dielectric coefficient increased from approximately850 without any contribution from NiO SINTER addition up to1500 upon addition of 1.5%NiO SINTER but then, it decreased again by approximately 1200 followed by addition of 2.25% NiO SINTER. Conversely, dielectric loss initially reduced from roughly 0.14% during no NiO SINTER addition by merely 0.04% during 1.