Pacific Industries installed a CDE Asia processing plant with NanoWash at Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, to get better recovery from their iron ore which was failing to meet the modern gradation standards for steel and iron making industries
Steel and ironmakers seek out ron ores with a high Fe grade and minimum silica content. To cater to this need, Pacific Iron Manufacturing installed a CDE Iron ore processing plant with NanoWash in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh.
The Challenge
Iron ore fines used at the Pacific Industries’ site contained high amounts of liberated silica and processing them with old equipment like Drum Scrubber, Screw Classifier, etc. did not successfully remove them. The presence of silica brought down the Fe grade in the ore and didn’t fetch many buyers in the steel and ironmaking industry. It also rang up operational costs for Pacific Iron Manufacturing.
CDE’s Solution
Stemming from the desire to supply better Fe grade ore to pellet plants, blast furnaces or DRI plants, Pacific Industries washed the raw feed in the 285 TPH CDE processing plant, which led to an increase in the Fe grade in the finished ore by 10%. It also ensured the recovery of up to 50% of the feed compared to the much lower recovery previously. The silica content in the ore was also significantly brought down, making it market-ready.
The below table shows the improvement in the final product corresponding to the change in metallurgy (% Fe) of the raw feed.
| Day | Feed (%) | Product |
| 1 | 49.47 | 57.51 |
| 2 | 52.47 | 62.57 |
| 3 | 51.83 | 62.15 |
| 4 | 51.92 | 61.81 |
Today, CDE’s wet processing technology is helping Pacific recover material up to 25 microns, giving rise to a whole new product category that was previously completely washed away. It is also helping separate and create 3 distinct products with significantly higher Fe grade by recovering up to 50% of ore material – a stark improvement as compared to the old washing system where the separation only happened at 150 microns, leading to loss of precious ore.
The plant in Jabalpur is now selling washed and processed ore of >5mm to the DRI end users, 0.045 – 5mm, and 0.025-0.045mm to pellet plant end-users in Chhattisgarh and Odisha.
Other compelling reasons that led Pacific Industries to choose CDE technology:
High yield with lesser water and power consumption
Compact, so less space needed for plant installation
Per tonne of processing cost is lesser with good efficiency
The promise of better output and final yield
The Way Forward –
Quality steel is pivotal to supporting rapid urbanisation and infrastructural development. Through CDE’s patented wet processing technology, it is possible to reduce the concentration of contaminants affecting the Fe value in the raw ore feed in the steel-making process. In the long run, CDE Asia wishes to empower more iron miners and traders to supply quality ore to the biggest steel producers and ironmakers in the country and contribute towards nation building.
