A process for ironmaking was proposed consisting of the combination of a rotary hearth furnace and a bath smelter employing wood charcoal as reductant and energy source. This article examines reactions in composites of iron oxides and carbon at elevated temperatures in conditions developed to minimize the influence of mass and heat transfer to the overall rates. A combined reaction model considering the steps of carbon oxidation and reduction of the iron oxides was developed allowing the measurement of rate constants for carbon oxidation and wustite reduction to be used in a comprehensive pellet model developed in Part II of the current article. This analysis showed that wustite reduction can have a significant effect on the overall rate of reduction in composites at high temperatures or in the presence of large excess of carbon. Rate constants measured for graphite showed that graphite is as reactive as wood charcoal, possibly due to the catalysis of graphite or its higher temperature dependence. The poisoning of carbon surfaces by CO is less significant than anticipated from works of previous authors.

A new process for ironmaking was proposed using a rotary hearth furnace and an iron bath smelter to produce iron employing wood charcoal as an energy source and reductant. This paper examines reactions in composite pellet samples with sizes close to sizes used in industrial practice (10 to 16 mm in diameter). A model was constructed using the combined kinetic mechanism developed in Part I of this series of articles [1] along with equations for the computation of pellet temperature and shrinkage during the reaction. The analysis of reaction rates measured for pellets with wood charcoal showed that heat transfer plays a significant role in their overall rate of reaction at elevated temperatures. The slower rates measured in pellets containing coal char show that the intrinsic kinetics of carbon oxidation is more significant than heat transfer. Model calculations suggest that the rates are highly sensitive to the thermal conductivity of pellets containing wood charcoal and are less sensitive to the external conditions of heat transfer. It was seen that the changes in pellet surface area and diameter due to shrinkage introduce little change on reaction rates. The model developed provides an adequate description of pellets of wood charcoal up to circa 90 pct of reduction. Experimentally determined rates of reduction of iron oxide by wood charcoal were approximately 5 to 10 times faster than rates measured in pellets with coal char.

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