Numerical study on the influence of center gas supply device on gas-solid residence time distribution in COREX shaft furnace

Abstract

The residence properties of gas-solid phases are important to the design and process optimization of a COREX shaft furnace. In this study, we investigated the gas-solid residence time distribution by using a coupled CFD-DEM model. The effects of the center gas supply device (CGD) on the average residence time, variance, and volume fraction of the gas and solid phases were analyzed. The results revealed that the average residence time, dispersed plug volume fraction, and well-mixed volume increased, while the variance and the dead volume fraction of the gas phase decreased for the shaft furnace with CGD. The average residence time and the dispersed plug volume fraction of the solid phase decreased in the shaft furnace with CGD. The dead volume fraction and well-mixed volume fraction increased with the introduction of CGD.