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

Abstract

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.