Direct reduction swelling behavior of pellets in hydrogen-based shaft furnaces under typical atmospheres

Hydrogen-based shaft furnace process is gaining more and more attention due to its low carbon emission, and the reduction behavior of iron bearing burdens significantly affects its operation. In this work, the effects of reduction degree, temperature, and atmosphere on the swelling behavior of pellet has been studied thoroughly under typical hydrogen metallurgy conditions. The results show that the pellets swelled rapidly in the early reduction stage, then reached a maximum reduction swelling index (RSI) at approximately 40%reduction degree. The crystalline transformation of the iron oxides during the reduction process was the main reason of pellets swelling. The RSI increased significantly with increasing temperature in the range of 850-1050℃, the maximum RSI increased from 6.66%to 25.0%in the gas composition of 100%H_(2). With the temperature increased, the pellets suffered more thermal stress resulting in an increase of the volume. The maximum RSI decreased from 19.78%to 17.35%with the volume proportion of H_(2) in the atmosphere increased from 55%to 100%at the temperature of 950℃.The metallic iron tended to precipitate in a lamellar structure rather than whiskers. Consequently, the inside of the pellets became regular, so the RSI decreased. Overall, controlling a reasonable temperature and increasing the H_(2) proportion is an effective way to decrease the RSI of pellets.

Gas Flow Distribution in Pelletizing Shaft Furnace

Through thermal test, cold state experiment, analysis and simulation of thermal process, the gas flow distribution in pelletizing shaft furnace （PSF） was discussed. The results show that there are five flowing trends among them, the downward roasting gas and the upward cooling gas are the most unsteady, which influence flow distribution greatly. Among the operating parameters, the ratio of inflow is a key factor affecting the flow distribution. The roasting and cooling gases will entirely flow into the roasting zone and internal vertical air channels （IVAC）, respectively, if the ratio of inflow is critical. From such a critical operating condition increasing roasting gas flow or decreasing cooling gas flow, the roasting gas starts flowing downwards so as to enter the inside of IVAC the greater the ratio of inflow, the larger the downward flowrate. Among constructional parameters, the width of roasting zone b1, width of IVAC b2 and width of cooling zone b3, and the height of roasting zone h1, height of soaking zone h2 and height of cooling zone hs are the main factors affecting flow distribution. In case the ratio of b2/b3, or h3/h2, or h1/h2 is increased, the upward cooling gas tends to decrease while the downward roasting gas tends to increase with a gradual decrease in the ratio of inflow.

Fundamental Study on New Method of Reducing Iron Ore-Coal Pellet in Cocurrent Shaft Furnace

Based on the laboratory experiment of reducing iron ore-coal pellet in oxidizing atmosphere,a new self-heating reduction method of iron ore-coal pellet in the cocurrent shaft furnace(CSF) has been developed.In this process,the pellets and preheated oxygen-enriched air enter the shaft furnace through its top and descend cocurrently in the furnace.Most of the heat required for rising temperature and endothermic reduction of descending pellets is provided by the way that the descending air burns the volatile from pellets and CO from the reduction of iron oxide in pellets.The reduced pellets and high temperature gas are discharged from the lower part.The sensible heat and chemical energy of the off-gas are used to heat the oxygen-enriched air in stove.This process is applicable to the direct reduction of iron pellets and prereduction of iron pellets in smelting reduction with iron bath.

Reducing process of sinter in COREX shaft furnace and influence of sinter proportion on reduction properties of composite burden

In order to reduce the materials cost of COREX ironmaking process,sinter has been introduced into the composite burden in China.This work explored the reducing process of sinter in COREX shaft furnace to clarify its reduction properties change and then the effect of sinter proportion on metallurgical performance of composite burden was investigated.The results show that the reducing process of sinter in COREX shaft furnace was basically same with that in blast furnace but sinter seems like breaking faster.Under reducing condition simulated COREX shaft furnace,sinter possessed the worst reduction degradation index(RDI)and undifferentiated reduction index(RI)compared with pellet and iron ore lumps.Macroscopic and microscopic mineralogy changes indicated that sinter presents integral cracking while pellet and lump ore present surface cracking,and no simple congruent relationship exists between cracks of the burden and its ultimate reduction degradation performance.The existence of partial metallurgical performance superposition between composite and single ferrous burden was confirmed.RDI_(+6.3)≥70%and RDI_(+3.15)≥80%were speculated as essential requirements for the composite burden containing sinter in COREX shaft furnace.

DPM-CFD simulation of powder motion in the burden distribution process of COREX shaft furnace

Single off-gas outlet devised by one-step COREX shaft furnace will ultimately lead gas distribution to segregate,furthermore the distribution of powder on charge level is non-uniformity.DPM-CFD model was employed to simulate the pellet minus sieve powder motion in the burden distribution process,in order to quantitative description the non-uniformity distribution.The results showed that,the non-uniformity distribution is increasing with the melting rate increased.The powder segregates to the fourth quadrant where off-gas outlet lies is 2.4 or 2.5 fold of any other quadrant,while the melting rate is 130 t/h or 180 t/h.The best method to resolved the problem adds an symmetry off-gas outlet.

Reduction of Carbon-bearing Pellets of Oolitic Hematite in a Shaft Furnace

When carbon-bearing pellets of oolitic hematite are treated in a shaft furnace,some problems are typically encountered：the metallization ratio of the metal pellets is low;the carbon-bearing pellets bond with each other at high temperatures;and the separation of phosphorus from iron is difficult.To solve these problems,experiments were conducted on oolitic hematite reduction in a resistance furnace and semi-industrial test shaft furnace.The results showed that the metallization rate reached 90% or greater under the conditions of a reduction temperature of 1 150℃,an atmosphere of simulated flue gas,and a reduction time between 1.5and 2.0h.The problem of high-temperature bonding among pellets can be solved by increasing the strength of the pellets,coating their surface with a surface transfer agent and maintaining an even temperature inside the shaft furnace.The basicity of the ore blend exerted no obvious effect on the magnetic concentrate and phosphorus content.The phosphorus content in the magnetic concentrate can be further reduced by improving the grinding capacity of the ball mills used in the experiments.On the basis of the experimental results related to oolitic hematite reduction with carbon-bearing pellets in a shaft furnace,the experimental requirements were satisfied with an average 88.27%total Fe content and 0.581% P content in the pellets.

Analysis of Gas Thermodynamic Utilization and Reaction Kinetic Mechanism in Shaft Furnace

The technology of coal gasification in shaft furnace is an effective way to develop direct reduction iron in China. In order to clarify the process of the reduction of oxidized pellets in shaft furnace by carbon monoxide or hydrogen in two ways, i.e. thermodynamics and kinetics, the gas utilization and reaction mechanism were studied by theoretical computations and isothermal thermogravimetric experiment. The results showed that the gas utilization increased with the rise of temperature when xH2/xco≥1 and with the increase of xco/（xH2 ＋xco） when temperature is less than 1073 K. The water-gas shift reaction restrains efficient utilization of gas, particularly in high tem- perature and hydrogen-rich gas. The gas utilization dropped with increase of carburization quantity of direct reduction iron （DRI） and oxygen potential of atmosphere. With the increase of both temperature and content of H2 in inlet gas, the reaction rate increased. At 100% Hz atmosphere, the interfacial chemical reaction is the dominant reaction re- stricted step. For the H2-CO mixture atmosphere, the reduction process is controlled by both interfacial chemical reaction and internal diffusion

Effect of screw casing structure on descending of burdens in COREX shaft furnace

COREX shaft furnace（SF）is a typical screw feeder with a storage container coupled with eight screw casings and screws.The structure of screw casing plays an important role in the moving behavior of burdens,stress distribution,abrasive wear of screws,and energy consumption during the operation of SF.Therefore,a three-dimensional semi-cylindrical model of actual size of COREX-3000 SF was established based on discrete element method to investigate the influences of screw casing structure.The results show that the increase in the gap between the outside of screw flight and screw casing is beneficial for the smooth operation of SF,resulting in uniform descending velocity along the radius of SF in the lower part,decreasing the size of recirculation region,and alleviating stress concentration in the screw casing.Moreover,raising the gap appropriately is also beneficial to weaken screw abrasive wear,decrease energy consumption,and then prolong the service life of the screws.However,enlarging the gap also leads to more undesired high temperature reduction gas into the SF from melter gasifier,thereby deteriorating the operation of SF.Thus,an ideal distance exists between the outside of the screw flight and the screw casing,which is suggested to be equal to the average of particle diameter.

Distribution of reformed coke oven gas in a shaft furnace

In recent years, the reformed coke oven gas (COG) was proposed to be used as reducing gas in a shaft furnace. A mathematical model of gas flow based on the reformed COG was built. The effects of the pressure ratio of reducing gas to cooling gas (k) on the gas distribution in the shaft furnace were investigated. The calculation results show that k is an important operation parameter, which can obviously affect the gas distribution in the shaft furnace. The value of k should be compromised. Both too big and too small k values are not appropriate, and the most reasonable value for k is 1:1.33.Under this condition, the utilization coefficient of reducing gas, the utilization coefficient of cooling gas and the coefficient of upward gas are 0.94, 0.92 and 1.03, respectively. Based on the validation of physical experiments, the calculated values of the model agreed well with the physical experimental data. Thus, the established model can properly describe the reformed COG distribution in an actual shaft furnace.

A new technology for treating waste incineration fly ash by shaft furnace

At present,lots of municipal solid wastes(MSWs)are treated by incineration technology,which produces a large amount of fly ash that needs to be treated innocuously.A new method of using metallurgical shaft furnace to treat the MSW fly ash was thus proposed,and some research was done for this method.Firstly,the basic physical properties of MSW fly ash were analyzed,and then,the briquetting experiment and melting treatment of MSW fly ash were explored.In the process of briquet-ting,the influence of different factors(water content,cement content,forming pressure and curing time)on the compressive strength of the briquettes was studied.The results showed that with the increase in water content,cement content,forming pressure and curing time,the compressive strength of the briquettes increased correspondingly.However,the compressive strength of the briquettes showed a downward trend when these values exceeded a specific range.In the melting experiment,it was found that some heavy metals(such as Cr,Be and Ba)could be solidified in the slag when the fly ash was treated at 1450℃ for 50 min,and the leaching toxicity of heavy metals was lower than the landfill standard of waste in China.At the same time,the decomposition rate of dioxins in fly ash reached 99.66%after melting treatment.

DEM Simulation of Solid Flow Including Asymmetric Phenomena in COREX Shaft Furnace

Based on the principles of the discrete element method （DEM）, a scaled-down model was established to analyze burden descending behavior, including asymmetric phenomena, throughout an entire COREX shaft furnace （SF）. The applicability of the DEM model was validated by determining its accordance with a previous experiment. The effects of discharge rate and abnormal conditions on solid flow were described in terms of solid flow pattern and microscopic analysis. Results confirmed that the solid flow of the COREX SF can be divided into four different flow regions; the largest normal force exists at the top of the man-made dead zone, and the weak force network exists in the funnel flow region. The basic solid flow profile was identified as a clear Flat→U→W type. Increasing the dis- charge rate decreased the quasi-stagnant zone size, but did not affect the macroscopic motion of particles or the shape of patterns above the bustle. For asymmetric conditions, in which particles were discharged at different rates, the solid flow patterns were asymmetric. Under an abnormal condition where no particles were discharged from the left outlet, a sizeable stagnant zone was formed opposite to the working outlet, and ＂motionless＂ particles located in the left stagnant zone showed potential to increase the period of static contacts and sticking effect.

Numerical Simulation of Thermal and Iron Ore Reduction Conditions in Pre-reduction Shaft Furnace Based on Reducing Gas Composition and Temperature

Based on the principles of mass,momentum and heat transfers between the reducing gas and the iron ore solid,a two-dimensional mathematical model for above two phases is established to study the influences of reducing gas composition on thermal and reduction conditions in pre-reduction shaft furnace with the temperature ranging from 1 023 to 1 223 K.Due to the strong endothermic effect of iron ore reduction participated by hydrogen （H2）,increasing the ratio of carbon monoxide（CO）to H2 enlarges high temperature zone under present calculation conditions,thus improves reduction efficiency inside the furnace.In addition,replacing of the reducing gas with an appropriate proportion of nitrogen（N2）featuring the same temperature has a potential to reduce fuel consumption by as much as 6.5%while the products of similar quality are yielded.

Hybrid intelligent control of combustion process for ore-roasting furnace

Because of its synthetic and complex characteristics, the combustion process of the shaft ore-roasting furnace is very difficult to control stably. A hybrid intelligent control approach is developed which consists of two systems： one is a cascade fuzzy control system with a temperature soft-sensor, and the other is a ratio control system for air flow with a compensation model for heating gas flow and air-fuel ratio. This approach combined intelligent control, soft-sensing and fault diagnosis with conventional control. It can adjust both the heating gas flow and the air-fuel ratio in real time. By this way, the difficulty of online measurement of the furnace temperature is solved, the fault ratios during combustion process is decreased, the steady control of the furnace temperature is achieved, and the gas consumption is reduced. The successful application in shaft furnaces of a mineral processing plant in China indicates its effectiveness.

Mathematical simulation of burden distribution in COREX 3000 shaft by discrete element method

The distribution of reducing gas in a shaft furnace dominates the temperature profile,gas utilization ratio,metallization degree and is the overwhelming factor for stable,high productivities and low-energy-consumption operation.At the same time,the distribution of gas flow is mainly determined by the position of gas inlet,the packed bed porosity distribution as well as its change due to the difference on the mode of top charge and bottom discharge.When injecting position of the process is fixed,the charge mode is the only means for regulating the gas flow distribution.In this paper,a numerical simulation model of burden distribution in the shaft furnace of COREX 3000 has been developed to analyze the porosity distribution under the different charge modes by means of Discrete Element Method(DEM).The effects of the particle size and its distribution under conditions of different charge batches,chute angle,stoke line on the burden surface shape and burden bed particle size distribution and segregation were investigated,and then the porosity distribution in the shaft of corresponding charging pattern was quantitatively accessed.Therefore,the results can be used to optimize the charge patterns base on required gas distribution.

Development and progress on hydrogen metallurgy

Hydrogen metallurgy is a technology that applies hydrogen instead of carbon as a reduction agent to reduce CO2 emission,and the use of hydrogen is beneficial to promoting the sustainable development of the steel industry.Hydrogen metallurgy has numerous applications,such as H2reduction ironmaking in Japan,ULCORED and hydrogen-based steelmaking in Europe;hydrogen flash ironmaking technology in the US;HYBRIT in the Nordics;Midrex H2TM by Midrex Technologies,Inc.(United States);H2FUTURE by Voestalpine(Austria);and SALCOS by Salzgitter AG(Germany).Hydrogen-rich blast furnaces(BFs)with COG injection are common in China.Running BFs have been industrially tested by AnSteel,XuSteel,and BenSteel.In a currently under construction pilot plant of a coal gasification–gas-based shaft furnace with an annual output of 10000 t direct reduction iron(DRI),a reducing gas composed of 57 vol%H2 and 38 vol%CO is prepared via the Ende method.The life cycle of the coal gasification–gas-based shaft furnace–electric furnace short process(30 wt%DRI+70 wt%scrap)is assessed with 1 t of molten steel as a functional unit.This plant has a total energy consumption per ton of steel of 263.67 kg standard coal and a CO2 emission per ton of steel of 829.89 kg,which are superior to those of a traditional BF converter process.Considering domestic materials and fuels,hydrogen production and storage,and hydrogen reduction characteristics,we believe that a hydrogen-rich shaft furnace will be suitable in China.Hydrogen production and storage with an economic and large-scale industrialization will promote the further development of a full hydrogen shaft furnace.

Analysis of gas-solid flow and shaft-injected gas distribution in an oxygen blast furnace using a discrete element method and computational fluid dynamics coupled model

lronmaking using an oxygen blast furnace is an attractive approach for reducing energy consumption in the iron and steel industry. This paper presents a numerical study of gas-solid flow in an oxygen blast fur- nace by coupling the discrete element method with computational fluid dynamics. The model reliability was verified by previous experimental results. The influences of particle diameter, shaft tuyere size, and specific ratio （X） of shaft-injected gas （51G） flowrate to total gas flowrate on the SIC penetration behavior and pressure field in the furnace were investigated. The results showed that gas penetration capacity in the furnace gradually decreased as the particle diameter decreased from 100 to 40 mm. Decreasing particle diameter and increasing shaft tuyere size both slightly increased the SIG concentration near the furnace wall but decreased it at the furnace center. The value of X has a significant impact on the SIG distribution. According to the pressure fields obtained under different conditions, the key factor affecting SIG penetration depth is the pressure difference between the upper and lower levels of the shaft tuyere. If the pressure difference is small, the SIG can easily penetrate to the furnace center.

Effects of Temperature and Atmosphere on Pellets Reduction Swelling Index

After taking into account the conditions of the domestic iron resources and the non-coking coal resources, the process of coal gasification-shaft furnace is an effective way to develop direct reduction iron in China. The following tasks are very critical to choose suitable process of shaft furnace and gasification, including the production of oxidized pellets with excellent comprehensive properties as well as the study of the reaction behavior and mechanism of swelling. The results showed that the oxidized pellets of using domestic magnetic iron concentrate as raw materials have favorable comprehensive properties, including higher mechanical strength both before and after reduction, faster reduction rate and lower reduction swelling index (RSI). All of these properties can meet the shaft furnace yielding requirement. When the temperature was below 1 223 K, the pellets′ RSI was lower than 20%. With increasing of the content of H2 in atmosphere, the pellets reaction rate accelerated, crushing strength enhanced and RSI decreased. The RSI dropped to 10.26% at 1 323 K in 100% H2 atmosphere, and it is up to 39.88% in 100% CO atmosphere. The iron grains mainly presented in platelike when pellets were reduced by H2, however, in CO atmosphere the iron grains were precipitated in flocculent. The whisker shape of iron grains and heating effects of reduction reaction are the major factors leading to the poor pellets strength and increase of RSI. Appropriately controlling the temperature and increasing the ratio of H2 to CO in atmosphere are good for dropping the RSI.

Kinetics of Oxidation Reaction for Magnetite Pellets

An experiment for the oxidation process of single magnetite pellet and theoretical analysis based on modi lied unreacted core shrinking （MUCS） model were carried out, and the controlling mechanisms of the initial and de veloping reactions were examined, respectively. From the study of the initial reaction, it was found that the chemical reaction of surface is the controlling step of the overall reaction when the temperature is up to about 750 K, while the mass transfer through the gaseous boundary layer dominates the reaction rate when the temperature is above 750 K. As the reaction developing within the pellet, the mass transfer through the produced layer becomes the controlling step. In addition, the effects of reaction conditions （such as oxygen concentration, temperature） on the fractional oxidation of magnetite pellet were determined.

Influence of basicity on metallurgical performances of fired super high-grade magnetite pellets in hydrogen-rich gases

The influence of basicity on the metallurgical performances and reduction characteristics of fired super high-grade magnetite pellets under the simulated shaft furnace gas conditions was investigated.The fired pellets in the basicity range of 0.09(natural basicity)to 1.00 show superior reducibility and low-temperature disintegration performance.However,in the basicity range of 0.20–0.80,the abnormal swelling of the fired pellets occurs.Improving basicity from 0.09 to 0.40 promotes the generation of low melting point slag phases and lower porosity of fired pellets,and accelerates the growth and densification of hematite crystals,impeding the reduction of hematite particles and the formation of metallic iron shell.In addition,the slags that distribute between the hematite particles absorb the reduction stresses by increased distances between the particles during the reduction process,which leads to the large reduction swelling of pellets.