Utilization of Microwave Energy in the Calcination and Agglomeration of Nsuta Manganese Carbonate Ore

Abstract

The application of microwave energy in the calcination and agglomeration of manganese carbonate ore from Nsuta, Ghana, has been investigated. The real and imaginary permittivities, which may be used to determine a substance's response to
microwave heating, were measured and the permittivities of both the ore and calcine were relatively low at low temperatures. Beyond 600oC, both the real and imaginary permittivities increased more rapidly with that of the calcine reaching relatively high values. The degree of microwave absorption and thus the temperature attained by the samples during microwave heating increased with sample mass, processing time and incident microwave power. Processing temperatures of over 1500oC could be attained under optimum microwave coupling. Calcination and agglomeration tests were performed and
the calcine obtained readily absorbed microwaves. The tumbler index of the agglomerated material was 90 and the average crushing strength was 2550 KN.

Ghana Mining Journal Vol. 9 2007: pp. 54-61