Patent ID: 6918947

Claim:
A method for making reduced iron using blast-furnace sludge, the method comprising: a mixing step of mixing the blast-furnace sludge with an iron-oxide-containing powder and/or a carbonaceous powder to prepare a mixed material; an agglomerating step of agglomerating the mixed material to form agglomerates; a feeding step of feeding the agglomerates onto a continuously moving hearth; and a reducing step of heating the agglomerates to remove zinc as well as to reduce the agglomerates, wherein the mixed material has an excess carbon ratio Sc that satisfies the relationship: Sc≦8−2 NL wherein Sc=XC−(12/16)·XO, NL represents an average number of layers of the agglomerates on the moving hearth, XC represents the mass ratio (percent by mass) of carbon in the agglomerates in a dry state, and XO represents a total mass ratio (percent by mass) of oxygen in iron oxides and oxygen in zinc oxide in the dry agglomerates.