STUDY OF INDIGENOUS FLUORSPAR AS METALLURGICAL FLUX
Zeeshan Al Hameed1, Junaid Saleem2*, Syed Sajid Hussain1, Ahsan Abdul Ghani2, Hira Lal2
ABSTRACT
The mineral reservoirs of Pakistan have an enormous amount of Fluorspar. Approximately 1 million ton reservoir
of Fluorspar was reported previously and is mostly exploitable. Also, around one third of its usage is in the form
of metallurgical flux, a key slag fluidizer in steel industry as it increases the fluidity of slag in the ladle furnace.
However, it needs to undergo beneficiation process to get it concentrated before being added into the furnace. In this
study, we report, for the first time in Pakistan, that the indigenous Fluorspar can directly be used as a metallurgical
flux without any beneficiation process as it is rich in Fluorite and also contains small amount of other compounds
that are required to be fed as part of slag. Specifically, it contains only trace amount of apatite as compared to
global Fluorspar. The composition of indigenous Fluorspar was compared with standard specifications and a detailed
characterization was carried out including chemical, mineralogical, and spectroscopic analysis. Further, indigenous
Fluorspar was applied as flux in the ladle refining operation of a local steel mill of Pakistan and results were stated
on the basis of degree of desulphurization and different basicity indexes.
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