Influence of V2O5 Content on the Gas-Based Direct Reduction of Hongge Vanadium Titanomagnetite Pellets with Simulated Shaft Furnace Gases

The influence of V2O5 content on the gas-based direct reduction of Hongge vanadium titanomagnetite pellets (HVTMP) was investigated with simulated shaft furnace gases, and the content levels were selected as 0 wt.%, 2 wt.%, 4 wt.%, and 6 wt.%, respectively. The results indicated that, with the increase of V2O5 content, the reduction was accelerated at an early stage due to the increase of the original porosity of the HVTMP. However, as the reduction proceeded, a slowing down in the reduction rate was observed, which was attributed to the formation of hardly reducible Fe2VO4. Major phases of reduced HVTMP were Fe2VO4, FeTiO3, and metallic iron. The morphology showed that the size of metallic iron particles of reduced HVTMP decreased with the increase of V2O5 content, V-bearing oxides embedded into the Ti-rich phases, and further reduction was restricted. This study not only established a relationship between the V2O5 content of HVTMP and its reduction behavior but could also contribute greatly to the effective utilization of Hongge vanadium titanomagnetite in shaft furnace.