Abstract
Despite its importance in practical blast furnace (BF) operation, the dominant factors to control drainage rate or tapping time have not been well studied. In most cases, short tapping time has been attributed to rapid tap hole diameter enlargement. On the other hand, the experiential tendency about positive correlation between furnace hearth bottom temperature and drainage rate has been widely recognized.
In order to examine the dominant factors to control the liquid drainage rate or tapping time at BF, a simulative calculation model is introduced, where the liquid drainage path consists of coke particles packed layer (coke filter) and tapping hole and the overall drainage rate is determined as one of smaller fluid rate in coke filter or tapping hole. For calculating the fluid rate in coke filter, a hypothesis that liquid iron and slag in coke filter is driven toward the tap hole entry point consuming the coke particles, whose extent depends on molten iron C saturation degree and FeO fraction in molten slag, was introduced.
The calculation results present good matches with the observed tapping operation. This result can be explained by the two influences of low permeability zone formation or elimination at furnace hearth. Considering the two influences of low permeability zone formation, (1) to lower hearth bottom temperature and (2) to induce low C saturation of pig iron due to short traveling time in liquid pool to tap hole entry point, the simulation result conforms to the above mentioned experiential tendency.
