Production of an iron powder commodity

Abstract

The present invention is directed to an iron powder commodity and to a process for producing such iron powder commodity comprising dehydrating and de-oiling hot strip mill (HSM) sludge within an inert gas atmosphere contained in a reaction chamber; venting and processing reaction chamber off-gas into a hydrocarbon product; discharging from the reaction chamber a dry de-oiled iron powder commodity that contains nanoparticle and ultrafine particle iron-bearing solids, and beneficiating the discharged iron powder commodity into particles of similar properties.

1 . A process for producing an iron powder commodity from HSM sludge, the steps comprising:
 placing HSM sludge into a reactor chamber, the HSM sludge comprising between about 2% to about 20% variform hydrocarbon matter, less than about 10% water, and the remainder iron-bearing solids;   supplying the reactor chamber with an inert gas;   elevating the reactor chamber to a first temperature, and maintaining the reactor at the first temperature for a period sufficient to cause at least a substantial portion of the water in the HSM sludge to erupt from within the HSM sludge as steam, the erupting steam reducing water content so that the atmosphere within the reaction chamber consists essentially of inert gas and water vapor;   thereafter elevating the reactor chamber to at least a second temperature higher than the first temperature, the second temperature vaporizing the variform hydrocarbon matter within the HSM sludge and de-oiling the solids so that the atmosphere within the reactor chamber is an off-gas that consists essentially of inert gas and hydrocarbons   venting the off-gas from the reaction chamber for downstream processing; and   discharging from the reactor chamber a dry de-oiled iron powder commodity for downstream beneficiating into iron powder commodity fractions.   
   
   
       2 . The process recited in  claim 1  wherein, beneficiating comprises: magnetic separating into a magnetic iron powder fraction and into a non-magnetic iron powder fraction. 
   
   
       3 . The process recited in  claim 1  wherein, beneficiating comprises: particle size separating into a nanoparticle iron powder fraction and into an ultrafine iron powder fraction. 
   
   
       4 . The process recited in  claim 2  wherein, beneficiating comprises: grinding before or after magnetic separating. 
   
   
       5 . The process recited in  claim 3  wherein, beneficiating comprises: grinding before or after particle size separating. 
   
   
       6 . The process recited in  claim 1  wherein, beneficiating comprises: magnetic separating into the magnetic iron powder fraction and non-magnetic iron powder fraction followed by particle size separating into the nanoparticle iron powder fraction and ultrafine iron powder fraction. 
   
   
       7 . The process recited in  claim 1  wherein, beneficiating comprises: particle size separating into the nanoparticle iron powder fraction and ultrafine iron powder fraction followed by magnetic separating into the magnetic iron powder fraction and non-magnetic iron powder fraction. 
   
   
       8 . The process recited in  claim 1  wherein, the HSM sludge contains between about 2% and about 15% variform hydrocarbon matter. 
   
   
       9 . The process recited in  claim 1  wherein, the HSM sludge contains between about 2% and about 6% variform hydrocarbon matter. 
   
   
       10 . The process recited in  claim 2  wherein, said magnetic iron powder fraction comprises Fe metallics. 
   
   
       11 . The process recited in  claim 2  wherein, said non-magnetic iron powder fraction comprises Fe oxides. 
   
   
       12 . The process recited in  claim 11  wherein, said magnetic oxide is Fe 2 O 4 . 
   
   
       13 . The process recited in  claim 3  wherein, the iron bearing solids in said nanoparticle fraction measure less than about 1,000 micrometers, and the iron bearing solids in said ultrafine particle fraction measure less than about 100 microns. 
   
   
       14 . The process recited in  claim 6  wherein, the iron bearing solids in said nanoparticle fraction measure less than about 1,000 micrometers, and the iron bearing solids in said ultrafine particle fraction measure less than about 100 microns. 
   
   
       15 . The process recited in  claim 7  wherein, the iron bearing solids in said nanoparticle fraction measure less than about 1,000 micrometers, and the iron bearing solids in said ultrafine particle fraction measure less than about 100 microns. 
   
   
       16 . The iron powder commodity produced from the process recited in  claim 1 , comprising: nanoparticle and ultrafine particle iron-bearing solids in the form of magnetic and non-magnetic solids. 
   
   
       17 . The iron powder commodity recited in  claim 16 , separated into a magnetic iron powder commodity and a non-magnetic iron powder commodity. 
   
   
       18 . The iron powder commodity recited in  claim 16 , separated into a nanoparticle iron powder commodity and an ultrafine particle iron powder commodity. 
   
   
       19 . The iron powder commodity recited in  claim 16 , separated into a magnetic nanoparticle iron powder commodity and a magnetic ultrafine particle iron powder commodity, and into a non-magnetic nanoparticle iron powder commodity and a non-magnetic ultrafine particle iron powder commodity. 
   
   
       20 . A process for producing an iron powder commodity from HSM sludge, the steps comprising:
 placing HSM sludge in a reactor chamber, the HSM sludge comprising between about 2% to about 20% variform hydrocarbon matter, less than about 10% water, and the remainder iron-bearing solids;   supplying the reactor chamber with an inert gas;   elevating the reactor chamber to a first temperature, and maintaining the reactor at the first temperature for a period sufficient to cause at least a substantial portion of the water in the HSM sludge to erupt from within the HSM sludge as steam, the erupting steam reducing water content so that the atmosphere within the reaction chamber consists essentially of inert gas and water vapor;   thereafter elevating the reactor chamber to at least a second temperature higher than the first temperature, the second temperature vaporizing the variform hydrocarbon matter within the HSM sludge and de-oiling the solids so that the atmosphere within the reactor chamber is an off-gas that consists essentially of inert gas and hydrocarbons   venting the off-gas from the reaction chamber for downstream processing into at least one hydrocarbon product; and   discharging from the reactor chamber a dry de-oiled iron powder commodity comprising nanoparticle and ultrafine iron-bearing particles in the form of magnetic and non-magnetic solids for downstream beneficiating into iron powder commodity fractions.   
   
   
       21 . The process recited in  claim 20  wherein, beneficiating comprises: grinding said iron powder commodity followed by magnetic separating into magnetic and non-magnetic fractions. 
   
   
       22 . The process recited in  claim 21  wherein, beneficiating further comprises separating said magnetic fraction into a magnetic nanoparticle iron powder commodity and a magnetic ultrafine particle iron powder commodity, and/or separating into a non-magnetic nanoparticle iron powder commodity and a non-magnetic ultrafine particle iron powder commodity. 
   
   
       23 . The process recited in  claim 20  wherein, beneficiating comprises: separating said iron powder commodity into nanoparticle fraction, an ultrafine particle fraction, and a coarse product fraction. 
   
   
       24 . The process recited in  claim 23  wherein, beneficiating further comprises separating said nanoparticle fraction into a nanoparticle magnetic fraction and into a nano-particle non-magnetic fraction. 
   
   
       25 . The process recited in  claim 23  wherein, beneficiating further comprises separating said ultrafine particle fraction into an ultrafine particle magnetic fraction and into an ultrafine particle non-magnetic fraction. 
   
   
       26 . The process recited in  claim 23  comprising: grinding said coarse product fraction into either a nanoparticle fraction or an ultrafine particle fraction and magnetically separating said fraction into a magnetic and a non-magnetic fraction. 
   
   
       27 . The process recited in  claim 23  comprising: discharging said coarse product fraction as an iron bearing raw material with a particle size greater than about 100 microns. 
   
   
       28 . An iron powder commodity produced from de-oiled HSM sludge comprising:
 nanoparticle and ultrafine iron-bearing particles in the form of magnetic and non-magnetic solids.   
   
   
       29 . The iron powder commodity recited in  claim 28 , separated into a magnetic iron powder commodity and into a non-magnetic iron powder commodity. 
   
   
       30 . The iron powder commodity recited in  claim 28 , separated into a nanoparticle iron powder commodity and into an ultrafine particle iron powder commodity. 
   
   
       31 . The iron powder commodity recited in  claim 28 , separated into a magnetic nanoparticle iron powder commodity and a magnetic ultrafine particle iron powder commodity, and separated into a non-magnetic nanoparticle iron powder commodity and a non-magnetic ultrafine particle iron powder commodity.