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US-12618018-B1 - Liquid binder for metallurgic and steel manufacturing and method of briquette formation

US12618018B1US 12618018 B1US12618018 B1US 12618018B1US-12618018-B1

Abstract

A briquette and binder for use in making the same are disclosed. The briquette including: a ferrous or ferro-alloy steel by-product; a binder mixture making up about 0.025% to about 10% of a batch weight, the binder mixture including: a polyvinyl alcohol resin comprising about 0.025% to about 30% of the binder mixture; a sodium hydroxide and diethanolamine phenolic resin comprising about 1% to about 20% of the binder mixture; and water making up the remainder of the binder mixture; a resin powder comprising about 0.01% to about 10% of the batch weight; and where the briquette, when cured, includes about 0.05% to about 10% of the binder mixture.

Inventors

  • Kevin Merritt
  • James Gardner

Assignees

  • NORTH AMERICAN METALLURGIC SOLUTIONS, LLC

Dates

Publication Date
20260505
Application Date
20240213

Claims (13)

  1. 1 . A briquette, the briquette comprising: a ferrous or ferro-alloy steel by-product; a binder mixture, wherein the briquette is formed from an uncured batch material comprising about 0.025% to about 10% by weight of the binder mixture, wherein the binder mixture comprises— about 0.025% to about 30% of a polyvinyl alcohol resin, about 1% to about 20% of a phenolic resin, about 0.05% to about 5.0% of an ester-based hardener, and water forming a remainder of the binder mixture; a resin powder, wherein the uncured batch material comprises about 0.01% to about 10% by weight of the resin powder; and wherein the briquette, when cured, contains about 0.05% to about 10% of the binder mixture.
  2. 2 . The briquette of claim 1 , wherein the resin powder is a powdered phenolic novolac with hexamethylenetetramine.
  3. 3 . The briquette of claim 1 , wherein the briquette further comprises a dry cellulous matter, wherein the uncured batch material comprises about 0.005% to about 5.0% by weight of the dry cellulous matter.
  4. 4 . The briquette of claim 1 , wherein the briquette has a Cold Crush Strength (CCS) of about 80 to about 300 psi.
  5. 5 . The briquette of claim 1 , wherein the briquette, when cured, has a cured crush strength of about 300 psi to about 1,500 psi.
  6. 6 . The briquette of claim 1 , wherein the briquette requires about 8 to about 24 hours to cure.
  7. 7 . The briquette of claim 1 , wherein the binder mixture further includes a microbicidal, wherein the binder mixture comprises about 0.1% to about 5.0% of the microbicidal.
  8. 8 . A binder for use in the formation of briquettes from ferrous or ferro-alloy steel byproducts, the binder comprising: about 0.025% to about 30% of a polyvinyl alcohol resin; about 1% to about 20% of a phenolic resin; about 0.05% to about 5.0% of an ester-based hardener; and water forming a remainder of the binder.
  9. 9 . The binder for use in the formation of briquettes from ferrous or ferro-alloy steel byproducts of claim 8 , wherein the binder further includes about 0.1% to about 5.0% of a microbicidal.
  10. 10 . The briquette of claim 1 , wherein the binder mixture further comprises sodium hydroxide.
  11. 11 . The briquette of claim 1 , wherein the binder mixture further comprises diethanolamine.
  12. 12 . The binder for use in the formation of briquettes from ferrous or ferro-alloy steel byproducts of claim 8 , wherein the binder further comprises sodium hydroxide.
  13. 13 . The binder for use in the formation of briquettes from ferrous or ferro-alloy steel byproducts of claim 8 , wherein the binder further comprises diethanolamine.

Description

RELATED APPLICATION This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63/484,848, filed Feb. 14, 2023, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. BACKGROUND Iron is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, forming much of Earth's inner and outer core. Iron alloys, such as steel, stainless steel, cast iron and specialty steel, are the most common industrial metals, due to their mechanical properties and low cost. Accordingly, the iron and steel industry is very important economically. In particular, steel accounts for approximately 93% of the annual metal production in the world. Approximately 57% of raw steel is produced through a process using blast furnaces and the remaining, approximately 43%, of raw steel is produced through electric arc furnace (EAF) from scrap metal. Regardless of how it is produced, steel production has a waste stream and various waste by-products. In some instances, steel production includes solid wastes that are generated during the processing and production of iron and steel. Other waste by-products of steel production may include slag, dust, fines, and sludge generated by steel plants. Most of the waste is conventionally transported to, and buried in, landfills or is alternatively processed into a metal briquette. These briquettes are typically not desirable for re-use in steel production or other processes as they have a high percentage of deleterious binders. Additionally, this waste by-products from steel production may cause environmental pollution and/or health issues when disposed of at a landfill. Accordingly, there is a need in the art for the creation of binder and agglomeration process to eliminate impurities and deleterious materials such as, bentonite clay, sodium silicate, cement, and molasses in order to minimize the waste from steel production. These binders accumulate in the slag portion of the steel production process and can cause damage to the furnace. There is a need in the art to preserve, and not impact, the mineral chemistry of the waste to produce a higher quality, more usable, briquette. There is a need in the art to increase the iron content throughput and reduce the percentage of impurities in processing of byproducts from the steel production process. SUMMARY The herein-described embodiments address these, and other problems associated with the art by providing a liquid binder for use in briquette. Therefore, consistent with one aspect of the invention, a briquette includes: a ferrous or ferro-alloy steel by-product; a binder mixture comprising about 0.025% to about 10% of a batch weight, the binder mixture including: a polyvinyl alcohol resin comprising about 0.025% to about 30% of the binder mixture; a sodium hydroxide and diethanolamine phenolic resin comprising about 1% to about 20% of the binder mixture; and water comprising a remainder of the binder mixture; a resin powder comprising about 0.01% to about 10% of the batch weight; and wherein the briquette, when cured, has comprising about 0.05% to about 10% of the binder mixture. In some implementations, the resin powder is a powdered phenolic novolac with hexamethylenetetramine. In some implementations, the briquette further includes a dry cellulous matter comprising about 0.005% to about 5.0% of the batch weight. In some implementations, the briquette has a Cold Crush Strength (CCS) of about 80 lbs to about 300 lbs. In some implementations, the briquette, when cured, has a cured crush strength of about 300 lbs to about 1,500 lbs. In some implementations, the briquette requires eight hours to cure; however, in some implementations, the briquette can be handled after one hour of cure time. In some implementations, the binder mixture further includes a microbicidal comprising about 0.1% to about 5.0% of the binder mixture. In some implementations, the binder mixture further includes an ester based hardener comprising about 0.05% to about 5.0% of the binder mixture. In another aspect, a binder for use in the formation of briquettes from ferrous or ferro-alloy steel by-products is disclosed, the binder including: a polyvinyl alcohol resin comprising about 0.025% to about 30% of the binder; a sodium hydroxide and diethanolamine phenolic resin comprising about 1.0% to about 20% of the binder; and water comprising a remainder of the binder. In some implementations, the binder for use in the formation of briquettes from ferrous or ferro-alloy steel by-products further includes a microbicidal compound including about 0.1% to about 5.0% of the binder. In some implementations, the binder for use in the formation of briquettes from ferrous or ferro-alloy steel by-products further includes an ester based hardener system comprising about 0.05% to about 5.0% of the binder. In further implementations, the binder is added to a ferrous or ferro-alloy steel by-product at about 0.025% to about 10% of a batch weight forming a briquette mixture. In some additional implement