The effect of hydrogen addition on the carbon-deposition behaviour during the reduction of pellets for the blast furnace process

Abstract

With the application of large amount of pulverised coal injection into the blast furnace, the hydrogen content in the gas will increase, which accelerates the reduction of iron ore in lump zone of the blast furnace as well as carbon-deposition reaction. This study has investigated the effect of hydrogen addition on carbon-deposition reaction during the reduction of pellets through thermodynamic calculation and experiment. The results show that H2 can promote the carbon-deposition reaction, while the increase of temperature and CO2 can significantly inhibit it. The preference region of temperature for C formation is about 600°C. Moreover, the promotion effect of H2 on the carbon-deposition reaction at 700°C is better than that at 600°C. The SEM observation results show that the generated carbon is mainly distributed on the surface of the pellet, and only a little carbon is located inside the pellet. The agglomerated carbon could be more easily formed due to the dramatic carbon-deposition reaction caused by the lower temperature or higher H2 content. But, most of the carbon just exists as an individual particle at the lower carbon-deposition reaction rate. The results of SEM–EDS reveal that carbon deposited is primarily in the form of elemental carbon rather than in the form of cementite. The study also shows that with increasing reduction time, the rate of carbon-deposition increases, mainly due to the promotion effect of reduced iron during the reduction process of pellets.