Mathematical modeling of the shaft furnace process for producing DRI based on the multiphase theory

Abstract

A numerical model based on transport equations for momentum, energy and chemical species for the gas and solid phases is proposed to simulate the inner phenomena in the direct reduction of the shaft furnace process for producing directly reduced iron (DRI). The model is verified using industrial data for productivity, raw materials and final composition of the DRI product. The model is used to evaluate operational practices using new raw materials and the composition of the reducing gas in the process. Three cases were considered, which correspond to available raw materials commercialized by different suppliers. The effects on the gas and solid inner temperatures, pressure and phase composition distributions are quantified. The simulation results indicated that good agreement for overall parameters of the process could be achieved and afterwards, detailed features of the inner conditions of the process are predicted.

Evaluation of the impact of cluster formation in a direct reduction shaft furnace through numerical simulation

“…The mathematical modeling of the DR process in the shaft furnace can be represented by the transport equation of momentum, energy and chemical species (Melaaen, 1992, Castro et al, 2018, Patankar, 2018, Rocha et al, 2019. In this approach, two phases can be discriminate, gas and solid.…”

“…In this context, a huge number of models have already been developed trying to represent the DR process. These models range from singleparticle approaches to multiparticle and components models with topochemical and grain models (Venkateswaran and Brimacombe, 1977, Yu and Gillis, 1981, Takenaka and Kimura, 1986, Negri, 1991and 1995, Parisi and Laborde, 2004, Piotrowski et al, 2005, , Pineau et al, 2006, Thurnhofer, 2006, Valipour et al, 2006, Ajbar et al, 2011, Nouri, 2011, Costa et al, 2013, Shams and Moazeni, 2015, Kazemi, 2017, Castro, 2018, Rocha et al, 2019. Since the DR process can be summarized as a counter-current bed composed of solid and gas into a mass and heat transfer, the most acceptable and useful models correspond to numerical models that comprise the multi interaction and multiple phase theory.…”

Computational Analysis of The Performance of Shaft Furnaces with Partial Replacement of The Burden with Self-Reducing Pellets Containing Biomass

“…Therefore, to investigate the feasibility of these concepts, it was developed a multiphase and multicomponent mathematical model based on mass, momentum, and energy conservation equations for predicting the inner temperature distribution of a shaft furnace on an industrial scale. It was proposed rate equations that represent the new raw material used in the model, based on previous experimental studies 18 and for DRI pellets with composition considered in previous works 10,11,19 . It was developed simulation scenarios based on a reference case involving actual operation and those based on partial substitution of the charge with SRP (self reduced pellet).…”