79 G GJ JT T Vol. 2, No. 2, March, 2018 Application of Microwave Technology to the Production of Iron Nuggets from the Sheini Iron Ore using Mixed Plastics Waste as Reductants* 1 J. R. Dankwah, 1 I. Yussif, 2 O. S. Hinson, 1 C. K. Owusu, 1 E. A. Agorhom and 3 P. Koshy 1 University of Mines and Technology, Box 237, Tarkwa, Ghana 2 Golden Star Resources Ghana Limited 3 University of New South Whales, Australia Dankwah, J. R., Yussif, I., Hinson, O. S., Owusu, C. K., Agorhom, E. A. and Koshy, P. (2018), “Application of Microwave Technology to the Production of Iron Nuggets from the Sheini Iron Ore using Mixed Plastics Waste as Reductants”, Ghana Journal of Technology, Vol. 2, No. 2, pp. 79 - 87. Abstract Disposal of waste plastics is currently a huge global problem, especially in the least developed countries where proven avenues for recycling such wastes are non-existent or not well documented. In this work the potential for producing high grade iron nuggets from the Sheini iron ore in the Northern Region of Ghana is investigated using carbonaceous materials generated from mixed plastics waste (MPW) as reductants. Carbonaceous materials were generated from MPW by pulverising an embrittled mixture of waste pure water sachets (PWS), waste polypropylene (PP), waste polystyrene (PS), waste low density polyethylene (LDPE) and waste polyethylene terephthalate (PET) obtained through a melting-quenching sequence. Two variants of MPW (MPW 1 and MPW 2) were used along with the individual polymers as reductants. MPW 1 was comprised of 40 wt % PWS, 30 wt % PP, 20 wt % LDPE and 10 wt % PS while MPW 2 consisted of 40 wt % PWS, 30 wt % PP, 20 wt % LDPE and 10 wt % PET. The generated carbonaceous materials were characterised by XRD, SEM/EDS and FTIR analyses. Reduction studies were then conducted on composite pellets of the ore containing MPW 1, MPW 2 and the individual plastics. Reaction products were characterised by SEM/EDS and XRD and the extent of reduction after 40 min was determined for MPW 1, MPW 2 and the individual polymers. XRD and FTIR analyses showed that individual polymers retained their chemical structure in the generated carbonaceous materials after the melting-quenching process. It was further observed that iron nuggets can be produced from the Sheini iron ore using MPW 1, MPW 2 and the individual waste polymers. The measured extent of reduction ranged from about 68.7% to about 91.24%, with the highest attained for PET and the blend containing PET. Keywords: Reduction; Sheini Iron Ore; Waste Pure Water Sachets; Extent of Reduction. 1 Introduction The Sheini iron ore is a low grade ore in the Northern Region of Ghana. In its current form it cannot not be exploited economically because of its location, relatively high phosphorus content and iron content, which ranges averagely from about 47 to 50 wt % Fe (Kesse and Banson, 1975). Waste polymer reduction technology is an emerging area in Metallurgy where carbonaceous materials generated from waste polymers are used in place of or in combination with other carbonaceous materials as reductants for metal oxides reduction (Dankwah et al., 2016). Countries like Ghana boast of commercial quantities of iron ores but lack the relevant source of carbonaceous materials like metallurgical coke and natural gas conventionally used for iron oxide reduction. For such Countries, mixed plastics waste may offer a readily available alternative to high grade metallurgical coke and/or natural gas as reductant for iron making. In particular, the use of MPWs as reductants eliminates the need to sort out various plastics from municipal solid waste and, accordingly, cut down cost. Currently there is no information on the exploitation of the Sheini iron ore for iron production. End-of-life plastics like PWS, PP, LDPE, PS, EPS and PET are readily available in Ghana (Dankwah 2015). Currently disposal of these polymers is a huge problem and is predominantly through the landfill option. However, a significant portion is disposed of illegally resulting in choked drains. Incineration of these polymers at landfill sites results in the generation of dioxins, furans and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) (Dankwah et al., 2016). One promising route to finding a fitting solution to the plastics waste pandemonium is the utilisation of postconsumer plastics as reductants or as a source of energy in iron and steelmaking and is currently gaining the attention of various researchers (Matsuda et al., 2006; Nishioka et al., 2007; Matsuda et al., 2008; Ueki et al., 2008; Dankwah et al., 2011; Kongkarat et al., 2011; Murakami et al., 2009; Murakami and Kasai, 2011; Dankwah et al., 2012; Dankwah et al., 2013a; Dankwah and Koshy, 2014; Dhunna et al., 2014; Mansuri et al., 2014; Dankwah et al., 2015a; Dankwah et al., 2015b; Dankwah et al., 2016). However, the focus of existing research in this area *Manuscript received October 10, 2017 Revised version accepted March 18, 2018