COURSE50 (CO 2 Ultimate Reduction in Steelmaking process by innovative technology for cool Earth 50) aims to increase the proportion of hydrogen reduction in the blast furnace. This objective raises the key issue of heat balance changes in individual regions as well as in the overall blast furnace. In order to compensate for the endothermic reactions of hydrogen, a decrease in direct reduction by carbon, a huge endothermic reaction, is being executed. Among the various hydrogen sources available in the industry, coke oven gas (COG) was chosen because of its availability and stability. However, COG requires reforming for it to be injected into the shaft of the blast furnace because this zone cannot combust the hydrocarbon components of COG. COURSE50 has carried out successful COG and reformed COG injection trials at LKAB's experimental blast furnace in Luleå, Sweden, in cooperation with LKAB and Swerea MEFOS. Carbon consumption in both the COG and reformed COG injection periods decreased compared with the base period because of the planned increase in hydrogen reduction instead of direct reduction by carbon. These results indicate the possibility of increasing the amount of hydrogen reduction in the blast furnace.
In future blast furnace operation which aims at low carbon consumption, it is indispensable to optimize the quality of carbonaceous and ferrous burdens, not evaluations of each individual but both sides of them considering interactions under the coexistence. Therefore, a simultaneous evaluation method of carbonaceous and ferrous burdens at cohensive zone of blast furnaces by softening-melting test which simulated the temperature profile in blast furnaces determined by reactivity of coke was developed. The effect of sinter ore reducibility and coke reactivity on sinter soften-melting property at cohensive zone of blast furnaces were evaluated. With increasing CRI, coke reactivity, gasification start temperature lowers as a result of increasing the reduction rate of sinter at 900-1 000°C and increasing softening shrinkage resistance at the initial stage of the shrinkage near 1 200°C.
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