Mathematical simulation of direct reduction process in zinc-bearing pellets

A one-dimensional unsteady mathematical model was established to describe direct reduction in a composite pellet made of metallurgical dust. The model considered heat transfer, mass transfer, and chemical reactions including iron oxide reductions, zinc oxide reduction and carbon gasification, and it was numerically solved by the tridiagonal matrix algorithm （TDMA）. In order to verify the model, an experiment was performed, in which the profiles of temperature and zinc removal rate were measured during the reduction process. Results calculated by the mathematical model were in fairly good agreement with experimental data. Finally, the effects of furnace temperature, pellet size, and carbon content were investigated by model calculations. It is found that the pellet temperature curve can be divided into four parts according to heating rate. Also, the zinc removal rate increases with the increase of furnace temperature and the decrease of pellet size, and carbon content in the pellet has little influence on the zinc removal rate.

Influence of furnace temperature and non-uniform heat flux density on direct reduction process of newly designed carbon containing pellet

In this study,innovative ellipsoid pellet with craters on its surface was designed,and the direct reduction process was compared with ellipsoid(without craters)and sphere pellets.In addition,furnace temperature and uneven heat flux density effects on the pellet direct reduction process were also studied.The results show that ellipsoid pellet is better than that of spherical pellet on metallization ratio.However,under the condition of non-uniform heat flow,the ellipsoid pellet final metallization rate and zinc removal rate were lower.Although the heat transfer effect of ellipsoid pellet with craters was not improved significantly,the metallization rate and zinc removal rate were found improved,which will have a cumulative effect on the pellets direct reduction process in rotary hearth furnace.Under varying furnace temperature conditions,the pellet temperature was higher than that of the constant furnace temperature.After 1200 s,pellet Fe concentration increased to 123.6%,metallization rate and zinc removal rate increased to 113.7%and 102.2%,respectively.These results can provide references for the carbon-containing pellet design used in rotary hearth furnace.

Numerical simulation of the direct reduction of pellets in a rotary hearth furnace for zinc-containing metallurgical dust treatment

A mathematical model was established to describe the direct reduction of pellets in a rotary hearth furnace （RHF）. In the model, heat transfer, mass transfer, and gas-solid chemical reactions were taken into account. The behaviors of iron metallization and dezincification were analyzed by the numerical method, which was validated by experimental data of the direct reduction of pellets in a Si-Mo furnace. The simulation results show that if the production targets of iron metallization and dezincification are up to 80% and 90%, respectively, the furnace temperature for high-temperature sections must be set higher than 1300~ C. Moreover, an undersupply of secondary air by 20% will lead to a decline in iron metallization rate of discharged pellets by 10% and a decrease in dezincing rate by 13%. In addition, if the residence time of pellets in the furnace is over 20 min, its further extension will hardly lead to an obvious increase in production indexes under the same furnace temperature curve.

Basic properties of steel plant dust and technological properties of direct reduction

Basic physicochemical properties of the dust from Laiwu Iron and Steel Co. Ltd. were studied. It is found that C, Zn, K, Na, etc. exist in the fabric filter dust, off gas （OG） sludge, fine ash in converter, and electrical field dust in sinter. Among these, OG sludge gives the finest particle, more than 90% of which is less than 2.51 mm. The dust can lead to a serious negative influence on the production of sintering and blast furnaces （BF） if it is recycled in sintering. The briquette and reduction experimental results showed that the qualified strength could be obtained in the case of 8wt% molasses or 4wt% QT-10 added as binders. Also, more than 75% of metallization ratio, more than 95% of dezincing ratio, as well as more than 80% of K and Na removal rates were achieved for the briquettes kept at 1250℃ for 15 min during the direct reduction process. SEM observation indicated that the rates of indirect reduction and carbonization became dominating when the bri-quettes were kept at 1250℃ for 6 min.

Direct reduction of iron ore by biomass char

By using thermogravimetric analysis the process and mechanism of iron ore reduced by biomass char were investigated and compared with those reduced by coal and coke. It is found that biomass char has a higher reactivity. The increase of carbon-to-oxygen mole ratio （C/O） can lead to the enhancement of reaction rate and reduction fraction, but cannot change the temperature and trend of each reaction. The reaction temperature of hematite reduced by biomass char is at least 100 K lower than that reduced by coal and coke, the maximum reaction rate is 1.57 times as high as that of coal, and the final reaction fraction is much higher. Model calculation indicates that the use of burden composed of biomass char and iron ore for blast furnaces can probably decrease the temperature of the thermal reserve zone and reduce the CO equilibrium concentration.

Mathematical model of the direct reduction of dust composite pellets containing zinc and iron

Direct reduction of dust composite pellets containing zinc and iron was examined by simulating the conditions of actual production process of a rotary hearth furnace （RHF） in laboratory. A mathematical model was constructed to study the reduction kinetics of iron oxides and ZnO in the dust composite pellets. It was validated by comparing the calculated values with experimental results. The effects of furnace temperature, pellet radius, and pellet porosity on the reduction were investigated by the model. It is shown that furnace temperature has obvious influence on both of the reduction of iron oxides and ZnO, but the influence of pellet radius and porosity is much smaller. Model calculations suggest that both of the reduction of iron oxides and ZnO are under mixed control with interface reactions and Boudouard reaction in the early stage, but only with interface reactions in the later stage.

Reduction and melting behavior of carbon composite lateritic bauxite pellets

Direct reduction of low-grade lateritic bauxite was studied at high temperature to recover Fe and beneficiate AlzO3 slag. The re- sults show that a metallization rate of 97.9% and a nugget recovery rate of 85.1% can be achieved when the reducing and melting tempera- tures are 1350 and 1480℃, respectively. Moreover, a higher-grade calcium aluminate slag （A1203 = 50.52wt%） can also be obtained, which is mainly composed of ct-A1203, hercynite （FeAI：O4）, and gehlenite （Ca2A12SiO7）. In addition, high-quality iron nuggets have been produced from low-grade lateritic bauxite. The nugget is mainly composed of iron （93.82wt%） and carbon （3.86wt%）, with almost no gangue （slag）.

Development of Direct Reduced Iron in China:Challenges and Pathways

The steel industry is considered an important basic sector of the national economy,and its high energy consumption and carbon emissions make it a major contributor to climate change,especially in China.The majority of crude steel in China is produced via the energy-and carbon-intensive blast furnace–basic oxygen furnace(BF–BOF)route,which greatly relies on coking coal.In recent years,China’s steel sector has made significant progress in energy conservation and emission reduction,driven by decarbonization policies and regulations.However,due to the huge output of crude steel,the steel sector still produces 15%of the total national CO_(2) emissions.The direct reduced iron(DRI)plus scrap–electric arc furnace(EAF)process is currently considered a good alternative to the conventional route as a means of reducing CO_(2) emissions and the steel industry’s reliance on iron ore and coking coal,since the gas-based DRI plus scrap–EAF route is expected to be more promising than the coal-based one.Unfortunately,almost no DRI is produced in China,seriously restricting the development of the EAF route.Here,we highlight the challenges and pathways of the future development of DRI,with a focus on China.In the short term,replacing natural gas with coke oven gas(COG)and byproduct gas from the integrated refining and chemical sector is a more economically feasible and cleaner way to develop a gas-based route in China.As the energy revolution proceeds,using fossil fuels in combination with carbon capture,utilization,and storage(CCUS)and hydrogen will be a good alternative due to the relatively low cost.In the long term,DRI is expected to be produced using 100%hydrogen from renewable energy.Both the development of deep processing technologies and the invention of a novel binder are required to prepare high-quality pellets for direct reduction(DR),and further research on the one-step gas-based process is necessary.

Abstracts from Journal of University of Science and Technology Beijing (in Chinese)

Direct reduction-leaching process for high ferric bauxite Wen-tao Hu, Hua-jun Wang, Chuan-yao Sun, Guang-kai Tong, Chun-ling Ji, and Cui-ling Wang Abstract： A direct reduction method was proposed which uses soda ash as the flux and coal as the reductant. By using this method hematite is reduced to iron, which can be recovered by magnetic separation, while A1203 is translated into sodium aluminate, which can be recovered from the solution. The effects of reduction temperature, reduction time, Na2CO3 dosage and reductant dosage on the grade of iron powder, the recovery of iron powder and the recovery of alumina were investigated on the basis of the single factor alteration principle. The process and reaction mechanism were studied by X-ray diffraction （XRD）, scanning electron microscopy （SEM） and energy dispersive spectrometry （EDS）. Orthogonal experiments were designed for optimiz- ing the experimental parameters.