Design of Novel Flash Ironmaking Reactors for Greatly Reduced Energy Consumption and CO2 Emissions

Hong Yong Sohn,Amr Abdelghany,De-Qiu Fan

doi:10.3390/met11020332

Abstract

The development of a novel ironmaking technology based on fine iron ore concentrate in a flash reactor is summarized. The design of potential industrial reactors for flash ironmaking based on the computational fluid dynamics technique is described. Overall, this simulation work has shown that the size of the reactor used in the novel flash ironmaking technology (FIT) can be quite reasonable vis-à-vis the blast furnaces. A flash reactor of 12 m diameter and 35 m height with a single burner operating at atmospheric pressure would produce 1.0 million tons of iron per year. The height can be further reduced by either using multiple burners, preheating the feed gas, or both. The computational fluid dynamics (CFD)-based design of potential industrial reactors for flash ironmaking pointed to a number of features that should be incorporated. The flow field should be designed in such a way that a larger portion of the reactor is used for the reduction reaction but at the same time excessive collision of particles with the wall must be avoided. Further, a large diameter-to-height ratio that still allows a high reduction degree should be used from the viewpoint of decreased heat loss. This may require the incorporation of multiple burners and solid feeding ports.

Highlights

This article describes the development of a novel flash ironmaking technology (FIT), conceived by Sohn [1], which is based on the reduction of iron oxide concentrate particles by gaseous fuel/reductant in a vertical flash reactor
The results obtained from the developed computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modelto were compared the actual results ofactual the reactor and good agreement wasagreement achieved. was
With computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling, it is possible to gain such insights into these critical parameters that are essential in reactor design

Summary

Introduction

Ironmaking consumes large amounts of energy and produces a great deal of carbon dioxide. A critical problem facing the steel industry is the development of an innovative technology for producing iron that is much more energy-efficient and environmentally friendly. It should be much less expensive than the blast furnace/coke oven combination, and must be capable of producing iron at a sufficiently large rate to feed steel mills. This article describes the development of a novel flash ironmaking technology (FIT), conceived by Sohn [1], which is based on the reduction of iron oxide concentrate particles by gaseous fuel/reductant in a vertical flash reactor. The novel process addresses the critical issues in ironmaking, namely, energy saving and greenhouse-gas emissions

Methods

Results

Conclusion