Patent ID: 7806959

Claim:
A method of making metallic iron nuggets, the method comprising: reducing material compacts comprising a solid iron oxide source and a carbonaceous reductant to produce reduced solid iron to a reduction ratio of 80% or more, wherein said reduction ratio is defined by: Reduction ratio=(amount of oxygen removed during the reduction process/amount of oxygen in the iron oxide in the material compact)×100 (%); and further heating, carburizing, melting, and causing cohesion of the resulting reduced solid iron in a reducing atmosphere to produce the metallic iron nuggets, wherein: the temperature during the solid reduction is in a range of 1200 to 1400° C.; the temperature during the heating, carburizing, and melting is in a range of 1300 to 1500° C.; the reducing atmosphere is adjusted by an atmosphere adjuster; the temperature during the solid reduction is from 50 to 200° C. lower than the temperature during the carburization, melting, and cohesion; and the resultant metallic iron nuggets have a diameter in a range of 1 to 30 mm.