Abstract
Problems relating to the oxygen injection through the Electrogen Furnace shaft were studied to meet some of the heat requirements during reduction. Reduction was performed mainly in a small silica fluidized bed reactor with Aswan iron ore using pure hydrogen or hydrogen mixed with either steam or oxygen or both. Preliminary work using a tube furnace arrangement was useful in understanding the process and determining the working conditions in the fluidized bed reactor.
The rate of reduction increased with temperature and hydrogen flow rate, but was retarded by the addition of steam and oxygen. However, in case of oxygen addition, the heat generated due to hydrogen-oxygen reaction counteracted the retarding effect.
The rate of the hydrogen-oxygen reaction was found to increase with the O2 content but was retarded with the increase in the amount of steam present. The latter has a moderating effect on the explosion tendency of the hydrogen-oxygen mixture. This tendency increased with the oxygen content in the gas mixture and under the present experimental conditions no explosions occurred as long as the oxygen content was less than 15% of the hydrogen content. Heat generated was calculated theoretically and determined experimentally.
