Abstract: The central composite design with response surface methodology was used to systemically research the effects of process parameters such as coal additive amount， ore particle size and coal particle size and their interaction on the compressive strength of high iron bauxite hot briquettes (HIBHB). The relevant mathematical prediction model was established as well. The results showed that these process parameters had significant effects on the compressive strength of HIBHB， ranking from coal additive amount， ore particle size to coal particle size. The established mathematical model with a correlation coefficient of 0.9589 could predict the changing rules for the compressive strength of HIBHB. Based on the model， the process parameters were optimized as follows: coal additive amount 19.0%， ore particle size 96μm and coal particle size 80μm. Under the manufacturing condition of optimized process parameters， the compressive strength of HIBHB was 1024.3N， very close to the predicted value of 1000N by the model. The difference between the experimental value and the predicted value was simply 2.43%， which indicated that the mathematical model could help to optimize the production process for HIBHB.

Key words: high iron bauxite hot briquette (HIBHB), carbon composite agglomerate, compressive strength, response surface methodology, mathematical model