Modeling and Simulation of Noncatalytic Gas-Solid Reaction in a Moving Bed Reactor

Abstract

This work is a simulation of a countercurrent moving bed reactor in which a reduction of porous iron ore pellets to sponge iron is performed. Simultaneous mass and energy balances of the reactor will lead to a set of ordinary differential equations. The iron ore reduction kinetics was modeled with a three-stage shrinking core model. Solving the ODE system allows prediction of the concentration and temperature profiles of all species within the reactor.The model is validated with experimental data obtained during operation of the bench-scale and full-scale processes and allows optimization of the process. The model is used to explore the behavior of the reactor when residence time of pellets is changed in order to increase or decrease the solid conversion. Also, it is used to explore the performance of the reactor under different conditions.