The steel industry is facing challenges on a global scale that include depletion of resources, huge
energy consumption, and the emission of CO2. The demand for iron products is increasing due to
the increased infrastructural development. Zimbabwe produced cast iron from scrap metals.
However, there is currently a shortage of scrap, and yet Zimbabwe is rich in limonite ores that are
currently being underutilised. The possibility of using limonite ore as a sustainable feed for pig iron
production was investigated by preparing some limonite ore carbon composite pellets. The results
showed that the addition of coal to the limonite ore and calcium carbonate mix to form the composite
pellets resulted in a decrease in the drop number as well as the dry compressive strength of the
composite pellets. This research aims to improve the physical properties of the green pellets by the
careful addition of hydroxyethyl cellulose as a binder that was found to improve the physical
properties of the green pellet. This is important for materials handling during the production process
of the composite pellets. Results showed that the drop number was substantially improved by the
addition of 0.4 wt per cent hydroxyethyl cellulose while the dry compression strength improved from
2.5 kg/pelIet to around 23 kg/pellet irrespective of the amount of binder added. The binder improved
the physical strength of the iron-carbon composite pellets enough to allow for large-scale production
of the pellets that can be an alternative and sustainable feed for cast iron production. However more
results on the indurated compression strength and other properties such as the reduction
degradation index, swelling index, and the reducibility test are required.