Basic Characteristics of the Shaft Furnace of COREX^® Smelting Reduction Process Based on Iron Oxides Reduction Simulation

Abstract

A two-dimensional mathematical model is developed to describe iron oxides reduction in the shaft furnace of COREX^® smelting reduction process. Combined with mass, momentum and heat transfers between gas and solid phases in steady state, the model calculates and demonstrates the basic characteristics of the shaft furnace, such as velocity, pressure, temperature fields of relevant phases and species' mass fraction distributions. The reduction from magnetite to wustite occupies most part of the furnace, and the reduction degree of burden located near wall is comparatively higher than that close to centre. The model also considers the influence of down pipe gas, driven by the pressure drop between the shaft furnace and melter gasifier, on the reduction behaviors inside furnace. Compared with the base case, the down pipe gas featuring higher temperature prefers to flow toward the symmetry axis, where both gas temperature and solid metallization are promoted remarkably.