Pressure Drop and Gas Flow of Cohesive Zone in Oxygen Blast Furnace Using a Combination of Experimentation and Porous Model

Abstract

The top gas recycling and oxygen blast process (TGR-OBF), an alternative idea basing on modified traditional Blast Furnace (TBF) process, has been proposed and investigated for several decades. One of its remarkable environmental advantages is the extreme lower coke rate. A porous media model combined with softening and melting experimentation is developed to analyse the pressure drop and gas flow pattern in and around cohesive zone of this process. When the inlet velocity is 5 m/s, despite of more cohesive ore layers included, the pressure drop of cohesive zone in TGR-OBF is about 90 kPa in total, the same as the TBF's. It shows that the permeability of cohesive zone is qualified for the steady operation in TGROBF process as conventional BF process.