Process simulation and energy integration in the mineral carbonation of blast furnace slag

Large quantities of blast furnace(BF) slag and CO_2 are discharged annually from iron and steel industries, along with a large amount of waste heat.The mineral carbonation of BF slag can not only reduce emissions of solid waste but also realize the in-situ fixation of CO_2 with low energy consumption if integrated with the waste heat utilization.In this study, based on our previous works, Aspen Plus was employed to simulate and optimize the carbonation process and integrate the process energy.The effects of gehlenite extraction, MgSO_4 carbonation,and aluminum ammonium sulfate crystallization were studied systematically.The simulation results demonstrate that 2.57 kg of BF slag can sequester 1 kg of CO_2, requiring 5.34 MJ of energy(3.3 MJ heat and 2.04 MJ electricity), and this energy includes the capture of CO_2 from industrial flue gases.Approximately 60 kg net CO_2 emission reduction could be achieved for the disposal of one ton of BF slag.In addition, the by-product,aluminum ammonium sulfate, is a high value-added product.Preliminary economic analysis indicates that the profit for the whole process is 1127 CNY per ton of BF slag processed.

Numerical Simulation of Fluid Flow in Blast Furnace Hearth

The liquid flow in blast furnace hearth can result in the erosion of hearth. To prolong the campaign life of blast furnace, the effects of coke bed structure, coke porosity and deepness of taphole on liquid flow in hearth were studied by re model under different conditions. The results show that with the decrease of coke porosity, the peripheral flow is enhanced. Moreover, the existence of narrow coke free zone and the deepness reduction of taphole can increase the flowability on the bottom of hearth.

Numerical Simulation of Heat Transfer of High-Temperature Slag Flow Inside the Blast Furnace Slag Trench

To investigate the flow and heat transfer process of blast furnace slag through the slag trench after the slag is discharged,a three-dimensional physical model is established and simulated according to the actual size of the slag trench and the physical properties of the high-temperature slag.The temperature field and flow field distribution of the high-temperature slag liquid inside the slag trench is obtained by numerical simulation under different working conditions,and the effects of operating conditions such as slag trench inclination,high-temperature slag inlet flow rate,and inlet temperature are investigated.The results show that the flow rate of high-temperature slag is related to the slope of the slag trench,the greater the slope of the slag trench,the higher the flow rate of high-temperature slag,in which the highest average speed can reach 2.23 m/s when the slope is 8%;changing the inlet flow rate,flowing through the slag trench,the high-temperature slag reaches the highest flow rate at the same position,the overall flow rate changes tend to rise first and then decrease,and the greater the inlet flow rate,the higher the temperature change of high-temperature slag.The higher the inlet flow rate,the higher the temperature change of high-temperature slag,the higher the temperature of high-temperature slag out of the slag trench;the higher the inlet temperature,the higher the overall flow rate of high-temperature slag,and the position of the highest flow rate is relatively backward.

SIMULATION OF GAS AND LIQUID TWO-PHASE FLOW THROUGH THE BLAST FURNACE DROPPING ZONE

A three-dimensional mathematical model,based on differential balances of mass and momentum,hasbeen developed to describe the two-phase flow of gas and liquid through the dropping zone of the blast fur-nace.Agreement between observed and calculated values verifies the validity of this model.On the basis of this model,various parameters for the surrounding of the dry zone of Blast FurnaceNo.I-BF of the Beijing Iron and Steel Company have been computed,from which a diagram for demar-cation of fluidization of coke and flooding of slag has been proposed.

Analysis of temperature,stress,and displacement distributions of staves for a blast furnace

The temperature of gas flow inside a blast furnace （BF） changes significantly when the blast furnace is under unstable operations, and the temperature and stress distributions of cooling staves （CS） for BF work the same pattern. The effect of gas temperature on the temperature, stress, and displacement distributions of the cooling stave were analyzed as the gas temperature inside the blast furnace rose from 1000 to 1600℃ in 900 s. The results show that both the temperature and temperature gradient of the hot side of CS increase when the gas flow temperature inside BF rises. The temperature gradient of the hot side of CS is greater than that of the other area of CS and it can reach 65℃/mm. In the vertical direction of the hot side of CS, closer to the central part of CS, the stress intensity is greater than that of the other area of the hot side of CS, which causes cracks on the hot side of CS in the vertical di- rection. As the gas temperature increases, the stress intensity rate near the fixed pin increases and finally reaches 45 MPa/s. Fatigues near the fixed pin and bolts are caused by great stress intensity rate and the area around the pin can be damaged easily. The edge of CS bends toward the cold side and the central part of CS shifts toward the hot surface.

Fundamental Study on Coke Degradation in BF with Oxygen Enriched Blast and High Hydrogen Atmosphere

The effects of gas composition, temperature, ore to coke ratio and prereduction rate of ore on coke degradation were studied. The results showed that 1% increment in solution loss of coke reduces coke strength by 0.6%, and the coke degradation is accelerated with the temperature. The higher the temperature, the more coke surface is involved in reactions, and the less negative effect on coke strength is. Hydrogen exerts stronger effect on coke degradation than CO at high temperature. The coke degradation is decreased with the reduction of ore to coke ratio and increase of ore prereduction rate.

Cooling Water Flow Rate Calculation for Hearth of Large Blast Furnaces

The cooling water flow rate for hearth of large blast furnaces was calculated by simulation. The results show that the cooling water flow rate shall be above 4 200m3/ h for hearth of large blast furnaces; to meet requirements of the increasing smelting intensity and to ensure the safety at the end of the first campaign,the designed maximum cooling water flow rate should be 5 900m3/ h; according to the flow distribution stability and the calculated resistance loss,hearth cooling stave pipes with the specification of 76 mm × 6 mm shall be adopted to assure the flow velocity in pipes of hearth cooling stave in the range of 1. 9- 2. 3 m / s.

Numerical simulation of the effect of coaxial and cross-axis injection modes on pulverized coal combustion in the raceway of blast furnace tuyere

The aim of this study is to investigate the influence of the angle of the pulverized coal (PC) injection lance on the combustion characteristics of fuel in the raceway of blast furnace tuyeres. Using FLUENT software, a Euler-Lagrange three-dimensional numerical model was constructed to analyze the influence of different positions of blast furnace tuyere coal powder injection lance (coaxial and cross-axis) on key parameters such as temperature distribution, gas flow, and combustion efficiency. The results demonstrate that adjusting the angle of the injection lance significantly modifies the average and peak temperatures in the raceway, while the composition of gas components remains relatively stable. When the injection lance angle is 10°, the average temperature and peak temperature in the raceway are 2294 K and 2747 K, respectively. When the injection lance angle is 12°, the combustion efficiency of the PC reaches 80.8%. This study reveals the significant impact of the injection lance angle on the combustion process. Especially at an angle of 12°, the combustion efficiency of the blast furnace significantly improves. With coaxial injection, the combustion rate increases as the distance between the injection lance tip and the tuyere increases. This paper is instructive for the optimization of the blast furnace combustion system, which improve fuel utilization efficiency and reduce environmental emissions. This paper provides practical recommendations for adjusting blast furnace operational parameters, offering insights for achieving more efficient and environmentally friendly industrial production.

CO_(2)emission evaluation and cost analysis of oxygen blast furnace process with sintering flue gas injection

In order to achieve ultra-low emissions of SO_(2)and NO_(x),the oxygen blast furnace with sintering flue gas injection is presented as a promising novel process.The CO_(2)emission was examined,and a cost analysis of the process was conducted.The results show that in the cases when the top gas is not circulated(Cases 1–3),and the volume of injected sintering flue gas per ton of hot metal is below about 1250 m^(3),the total CO_(2)emissions decrease first and then increase as the oxygen content of the blast increases.When the volume of injected sintering flue gas per ton of hot metal exceeds approximately 1250 m^(3),the total CO_(2)emissions gradually decrease.When the recirculating top gas and the vacuum pressure swing adsorption are considered,the benefits of recovered gas can make the ironmaking cost close to or even lower than that of the ordinary blast furnace.Furthermore,the implementation of this approach leads to a substantial reduction in total CO_(2)emissions,with reductions of 69.13%(Case 4),70.60%(Case 5),and 71.07%(Case 6),respectively.By integrating previous research and current findings,the reasonable oxygen blast furnace with sintering flue gas injection can not only realize desulfurization and denitrification,but also achieve the goal of reducing CO_(2)emissions and ironmaking cost.

Conceptual design and simulation analysis of thermal behaviors of TGR blast furnace and oxygen blast furnace

Extensive use of carbon based fuel is the main inducement for global warming and more extreme weather.Reducing carbon dioxide emission and enhancing energy use is a common subject in steel industry.In the integrated steel plant,decreasing carbon dioxide emission must consider energy balance in the whole iron and steel works,and secondary energy must be actively utilized.As promising blast-furnaces,top gas recovery blast furnace(TGR-BF) and oxygen blast furnace have been investigated.In this paper,conceptual TGR blast furnace and oxygen blast furnace are proposed.Base on the idea of blast furnace gas de-CO2 circulating as reducing agent and the idea of pure oxygen blast decreasing the thermal reserve zone temperature,process modeling is conducted with ASPEN Plus.It is shown that the developed model reasonably describes the energy balance and mass balance feature of the furnace,and provides basic thermodynamic condition for furnaces.The effects of changes in different operation conditions are studied by sensitivity analysis and reference data from simulation.

Investigating effect of coke porosity on blast furnace performance based on multi-physical fields

Reducing coke use is an effective measure to reduce carbon emission and energy consumption in the blast furnace(BF)ironmaking.Essentially,BF is a high-temperature moving bed reactor,where complex physical transformations coupled with complicated reactions occur.This makes it challenging to investigate the factors determining BF performance with the conventional method.A multi-physical field coupling mathematical model of BF was thus developed to describe its mass and heat transfer as well as its intrinsic reactions.Then,the proposed model was validated with the production data.Under coupling conditions,influences of dominating reactions on BF performance(temperature distribution,gas distribution,iron formation reaction,and direct reduction degree)were revealed.The results indicated that coke combustion,indirect reduction,and direct reduction of iron ore mainly took place nearby the shaft tuyere,cohesive zone,and dripping zone,respectively.Besides,the rate of coke solution loss reaction was increased with the rising coke porosity in the cohesive zone.Considering the effect of coke porosity on the efficiency and stability of BF,the coke porosity of 0.42 was regarded as a reasonable value.

Softening and Melting Behavior of Mixed Burden for Oxygen Blast Furnace

The behaviors of mixed burden in the cohesive zone of oxygen blast furnace were studied by softening and melting tests, and the influence of reducing gas and burden basicity on the softening and melting behaviors of mixed burden was also investigated. The results indicated that the softening range became wide, however, the melting range narrowed sharply in the atmosphere of oxygen blast furnace. The permeability of burden in the oxygen blast furnace was obviously improved comparing with the conventional blast furnace. In addition, the content of sulphur in the dripping iron of oxygen blast furnace was much lower than that of conventional blast furnace, however, the content of carbon increased. An optimum basicity of burden, which could lead to the appearance of the narrower melting range and better permeability of burden, was obtained in the atmosphere of oxygen blast furnace.

Reduction Behavior of Sinter Based on Top Gas Recycling-Oxygen Blast Furnace

In order to explore the behavior laws of sinter reduction in TGR-OBF ( top gas recycling-oxygen blast furnace ), reduction experiments of sinter have been conducted by thermal balance mass loss method with different atmospheres , temperatures and volume flows.The changes of RI ( reduction degree of Fe 2 O 3 ), RI′ ( reduction rate of Fe 2 O 3 ) and r ( reduction degree of FeO ) have been examined.The results show that the reduction of sinter was significantly improved under TGR-OBF atmosphere , and the RIand r were measured up to 98.2%and 97.8%at 900℃ respectively.With increasing of the reduction temperature , the reduction of sinter speeded up greatly , and the reduction time-duration shortened from 117min at 900 ℃ to 63min at 1 100 ℃.Moreover , the reduction of sinter enhanced with increasing of the reductive gas flow.When the flow increased from 10to 15L / min , the initial reduction rate of sinter increased from 2.47% / min to 3.73% / min.While increasing H2and CO contents in the reductive atmosphere , the reduction of sinter was promoted.Besides , H 2 influenced more evidently than CO to the reduction of sinter , especially in the later stage of the reduction process , for instance , the reduction of wustite will be improved enormously when increasing the H2content in the reductive atmosphere.

Softening and Melting Behavior of Ferrous Burden under Simulated Oxygen Blast Furnace Condition

The softening and melting behavior of sinter, pellet and mixed burden was researched through high tem- perature reaction tests under load simulating traditional blast furnace （T-BF） and oxygen blast furnace （OBF） condi- tions. The results indicated that compared with T-BF, the softening zone of sinter and pellet became wide, but the melting zone became narrow in OBF. The permeabilities of both sinter and pellet were improved in OBF. Under the condition of OBF, the temperature of softening zone of mixed burden was increased by 63 K, but the temperature of melting zone was decreased by 76 K. Therefore, the permeability of material layer was significantly improved. This was mainly caused by the change of the melting behavior of pellet. In addition, the quality Of dripping iron in OBF was much better than that of T-BF.

Reduction Behavior of Pellet under Simulated Oxygen Blast Furnace Condition

The reduction behavior of pellet was researched through the programming apparatus under simulated con- ditions of oxygen blast furnace （OBF） and traditional blast furnace （T-BF）. The results indicated that compared with traditional blast furnace, the reduction starting temperature of pellet decreased by 60 ℃ under oxygen blast furnace condition. The reduction degree of pellet could almost reach 100% under oxygen blast furnace condition when the temperature reached 1100 ℃, whereas it was only 82.49% in traditional blast furnace. The content of carbon in pel- let of oxygen blast furnace was about 5 times more than that of traditional blast furnace. In addition, the microstruc- ture at the periphery and core of pellets after reaction was characterized by means of SEM and EDS.

Medium oxygen enriched blast furnace with top gas recycling strategy

Top gas recycling oxygen blast furnace（TGR-OBF）process is a promising ironmaking process.The biggest challenge of the TGR-OBF in operation is the dramatic decrease of top gas volume（per ton hot metal）,which once led to hanging-up and shutdowns in practice of the Toulachermet.In order to avoid this weakness,the strategy of medium oxygen blast furnace was presented.The maneuverable zone of the TGR-OBF was determined by the top gas volume,which should not be far from the data of the traditional blast furnace.The deviation of ±12.5% was used,and then the maneuverable blast oxygen content is from 0.30 to 0.47 according to the calculation.The flame temperature and the top gas volume have no much difference compared to those of the traditional blast furnace.The minimum carbon consumption of 357 kg per ton hot metal in the maneuverable zone occurs at the oxygen content of 0.30（fuel saving of 14%）.In the unsteady evolution,the N2 accumulation could approach nearly zero after the recycling reached 6 times.Thus far,some TGR-OBF industrial trials have been carried out in different countries,but the method of medium oxygen enriched TGR-OBF has not been implemented,because the accumulation of N2 was worried about.The presented strategy of medium oxygen enriched TGR-OBF is applicable and the strategy with good operational performance is strongly suggested as a forerunner of the full oxygen blast 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.

高炉鼓风条件对回旋区形态影响的数值模拟研究

针对高炉回旋区难以实验观测,研发了二维欧拉—颗粒多相流动模型,对高炉回旋区形成进行了数值模拟,研究了鼓风速度、鼓风角度对回旋区尺寸和形状的具体影响。研究结果表明,当鼓风速度从150 m/s增至250 m/s时,回旋区气相体积分数及尺寸显著增加,深度和高度分别从0.75 m和1.24 m扩展至1.4 m和2.36 m。另外,鼓风角度的调整在回旋区的水平和深度方向同样起到了关键作用,当鼓风角度从0°调整至-30°时,回旋区高度保持在2 m左右,深度从1.52 m降至1.13 m,特别是较小鼓风角度有利于增加回旋区深度。研究结果为高炉鼓风操作参数优化提供了科学依据,对于提升高炉运行效率和生产能力具有重要的指导价值。

低碳炼铁技术探讨

本文从减碳潜力的角度分析探讨了富氢碳循环氧气高炉技术和氢基竖炉直接还原技术的应用前景。以富氢碳循环氧气高炉技术为代表的长流程低碳冶炼技术降低碳排放量的理论极限约50%,有助于我国钢铁工业现阶段实现较大的减碳效果,而采用富氢气体作为还原剂的竖炉工艺,在技术层面已具备进一步提高氢气比例的能力,甚至可以将氢气比例提高到100%,通过化学反应、反应热力学和反应动力学等机理分析,探讨了MIDREX和ENERGIRON工艺不同参数选择的本质原因。在还原气相同时,MIDREX工艺和ENERGIRON工艺的竖炉内气体中H_(2)/CO不同,是由重整方式不同决定的,H_(2)/CO越高越符合氢冶金的需求;竖炉内压力越高,还原速度越快,还原气体利用率越高,可以提高单位容积竖炉的产量,减小设备总重量;气体入炉温度主要由炉内气体成分决定,为充分发挥H_(2)的还原能力,同时避免炉内粘结的发生,气体入炉温度选择在950℃左右,H_(2)比例高,气体入炉温度可以适当提高。

基于重整煤气喷吹-氧气高炉的富氧燃烧碳捕集方案

碳捕集利用与封存(简称CCUS)技术是钢铁行业实现碳中和目标的可行选择,但是我国钢铁生产以高炉-转炉长流程生产为主,产生碳排放的工序众多且碳浓度较低,目前仍缺少经济高效的碳捕集方案。在此背景下,通过引入气化炉用于重整炉顶煤气,改进现有炉顶煤气循环-氧气高炉工艺的炉顶煤气循环方式,耦合富氧燃烧碳捕集技术,提出一种基于重整煤气喷吹-氧气高炉的富氧燃烧碳捕集方案,并利用Aspen Plus建模计算和碳流分析评估了该方案的节能减排潜力。结果表明:富氧燃烧碳捕集技术与氧气高炉低碳冶炼工艺有着良好的承接性与耦合性,两者耦合能够降低钢铁行业碳捕集的难度;富氧燃烧单位CO_(2)的捕集能耗为2623.91 kJ/kg,比现有的醇胺法的碳捕集能耗低51.4%,比变压吸附法的碳捕集能耗低26.2%;生产每吨钢材可通过富氧燃烧捕集到1.5 t CO_(2),有望实现钢铁生产过程的CO_(2)净零排放。总的来说,该方案能够在高炉低碳冶炼的基础上进行低成本、大规模的碳捕集,是钢铁行业绿色低碳转型的可行方案。