Apparatus and method for screening and delivering green ore pellets onto a travelling grate

A method for screening green ore pellets and delivering oversize green ore pellets to an induration furnace, the method comprising:

• screening the green ore pellets along a delivery direction with a delivery screening deck having an oversize pellet output,
• receiving oversize green ore pellets from the oversize pellet output at a chute pellet input of a pellet chute, the pellet chute defining a curved delivery path, delivering the oversize green ore pellets onto a travelling grate through the chute pellet output of the pellet chute, the pellet chute defining a curve along a pellet flow direction with an input slope defined at the chute pellet input of the curved delivery path that is greater than an output slope of the chute pellet output of the curved delivery path to reduce a delivery speed of the oversize green ore pellets from the oversize pellet output to the travelling grate, wherein the pellet chute comprises a plurality of adjacent rolls extending transversally with respect to the curved delivery path to deliver the oversize green ore pellets along the curved delivery path;
• and
• delivering the oversize green ore pellets to the induration furnace via the travelling grate along a travelling direction, wherein the travelling direction, the delivery direction and the pellet flow direction have horizontal directional components in a same forward direction.

A screening apparatus for screening green ore pellets and delivering oversize green ore pellets to an induration furnace via a travelling grate displacing the oversize green ore pellets along a travelling direction, the screening apparatus comprising at least three superposed screening decks extending towards the travelling grate in substantially parallel delivery directions, said at least three screening decks including an upper screening deck, at least one middle screening deck and a lower screening deck,

• wherein the upper screening deck has a pellet input, and each one of the at least three screening decks end with an oversize pellet output,
• wherein the at least three screening decks have screens configured to screen the green ore pellets from top to bottom, the screening decks being mounted one on the top of the other, the oversize pellet outputs of the lower and the at least one middle screening decks feeding the travelling grate in superposed layers with the oversize green pellets of one of the at least one middle screening deck and the lower screening deck being superposed to the oversize green pellets of the other one of the at least one middle screening deck and the lower screening deck;
• and
• at least two pellet chutes each defining a curved delivery path having a chute pellet input to receive respectively the oversize green ore pellets from the oversize pellet output of the at least one middle screening deck and the lower screening deck and a chute pellet output to deliver the oversize green ore pellets onto the travelling grate;
• each one of the at least two pellet chutes defining a curve along a pellet flow direction,
• wherein the delivery directions of the at least three superposed screening decks, the pellet flow direction of the at least two pellet chutes and the travelling direction share a common forward direction.