Effect of nuclei particle shape and baffle setting on the drum granulation in iron ore sintering process

Abstract

Discrete element method is used in this work to investigate the sintering granulation process of different-shaped nuclei iron ore particles and different drum baffle settings in rotating drums. The results show that the nuclei particle shape does not affect the flow pattern much, and the baffle setting can affect the time needed for particle flow to stabilize and the fluctuation intensity of particle collisions. The shape of iron ore nuclei significantly affects the number of attached small particles (per unit area), with the order of sphere > schistose > sphero-polyhedron > ellipsoid > polyhedron. Drums with the inclined baffles and ring baffles have faster water exchange rate. The 4-baffle drum has the highest number of adhered particles on the nuclei particle surface, showing a better granulation performance. The drum baffle setting does not affect the proportion of adhered iron ore, coke, and flux particles much.