Letter 14057

Mill Scale Use [North Carolina] 

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My company uses iron ore (magnetite) in its process. However, a large amount of mill scale has become available and we are looking at it as a substitute or supplement. What is the basic composition of mill scale and the difference between it and magnetite and black iron oxide? Can mill scale be used in place of magnetite or black iron oxide?

Fred S [name deleted for privacy]
- Charlotte, NC, USA

Maybe. But with zilch info on what sort of process, there's no way anybody can answer. None of us is a mind reader :-)

Bill Reynolds    metallurgical services Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Please answer me these question !! I need help !!

Arash M [name deleted for privacy]
- Iran

As Mr. Reynolds noted, nobody can answer a question until you ask it, Arash :-)

You are basically asking us if you can use a bean bag in place of a rolling pin without telling us what you were doing or intending to do with the rolling pin :-)

Mill scale is the hardened, oxidized, surface that develops on steel as it is hot processed. It contains iron and oxidized iron and perhaps undefined contaminants like oils. Putting this dusty stuff into a "process" that is not described could work excellently, or it could work poorly, or it could completely fail to work, or it could explode to disastrous effect -- all depending on what the "process" is.

Ted Mooney, P.E.  finishing.com Brick, NJ

Would it be possible to use iron mill scale with 98% content of Fe₂O₃ as raw material for making magnet.

Edward Gantz
- Birmingham

I would like to know more about the uses for mill scale. Also if the product is useful in industry what is the price tag on mill scale?

Chris Scheepers
trader - Richards Bay, South Africa

Well I used to use about about 1,000 tons per year. It was use in a ferro-cement mix and poured into a polyethylene shell. These were sold as wheel weights for lawn and garden tractor wheels for extra weight for traction. Weights were 20-75 lbs.

Paul Rybak
- Topton, NC

We are exploring the use of mill scale (small percentage) in our Pellet Plant coming up in India. We are beneficiating Iron Ore fines bearing Fe 56% to 300-325 mesh and then using a series of hydro-cyclones to bring the Fe up to 64%. I would like to explore the use of mill scale in crushed form (325 mesh/44 microns) for: 1. upgrading by green ball Fe content & 2. increase the quality of finished pellets in terms of reduction.

Any suggestions / opinions / advice is solicited.

Prashant Sharma
- Kolkata, WB, India

Our factory mix a little per cent of mill scale into iron ore fines before they are sintered so that we could get a higher grade of FE centent.

Charles Yu
- Qingdao, Shandong, China

I want to post a question or inquiry of my own.

 

I want to answer or follow-up on this question publicly (in non-commercial fashion).