Coupled Simulation of Flow and Chemical Reaction with Finite Reaction Rate for Decarburization of Molten Iron using Gas Jet of Carbon Dioxide

Abstract

We proposed a novel numerical method for the reliable prediction of decarburization with CO₂. In our method, mass, momentum, and energy conservation equations are solved simultaneously, where the reactive mass transfer, compressibility, and moving interface between gas and liquid are fully considered. In the decarburization reaction model, we assumed that the rate-limiting processes are the mass transfer in the gas phase and the interfacial reaction rate. Our method quantitatively well reproduced the total decarburization rates in the crucible of Nomura and Mori’s experiment (Trans. ISIJ, 13 (1973), 265.) using a jet of CO₂–CO gas mixture. It was found that the interfacial reaction rate affected the local decarburization reaction rate and the concentration distribution of CO₂ and CO near the gas–liquid interface. Thus, the consideration of the interfacial reaction rate is important for the accurate reproduction of the local decarburization phenomena by a gas jet of CO₂.