Empirical Formulae for the Gas Pressure Drop and the Liquid Holdup for the Counter-current Region of Gas-liquid Flow in the Dropping Zone of a Blast Furnace

Abstract

The Ergun-type pressure loss equation was extended to the flows in irrigated packed beds on the basis of the assumption that, in the case of irrigated beds, the bed is composed of solid particles and hypothetical liquid droplets. Dimensionless empirical formulae for the quantity and the size of liquid in the bed were obtained by using experimental data on gas pressure drop and liquid holdup obtained under simulating flow conditions of the dropping zone of a blast furnace.
Flooding gas velocities as well as gas pressure drop and liquid holdup over entire region of gas velocity up to the flooding could be calculated by use of the above formulae with reasonable accuracy.
The pressure loss equation was further extended to the flow of two liquid phases in the dropping zone of a blast furnace. A sample calculation confirmed the result of earlier study that the fluidization of the coke bed would start before the onset of flooding of the slag.