A downscaling cold model for solid flow behaviour in a top gas recycling-oxygen blast furnace

Abstract

The top gas recycling-oxygen blast furnace (TGR-OBF) is a reasonable method used to reduce both coke rate and energy consumption in the steel industry. An important feature of this process is shaft gas injection. This article presents an experimental study on the gas–solid flow characteristics in a TGR-OBF using a two-dimensional cold model. The experimental conditions and parameters were determined using a series of similarity criteria. The results showed that the whole flow area in the TGR-OBF can be divided into four distinct flow zones, namely, the stagnant zone, the plug flow zone in the upper part of the shaft, the converging flow zone and the quasi-stagnant flow zone, which is similar to that in a traditional blast furnace. Then the effects of batch weight and the ratio (X) of the shaft injected gas flow rate to the total gas flow rate on solid flow behaviour were investigated in detail. With the increase in batch weight, the shape of the stagnant zone tends to be shorter and thicker. Furthermore, with the increase in X value from 0 to 1, the stagnant zone gradually becomes thinner and higher. The results obtained from the experiments provide fundamental data and a validation for the discrete element method–computational fluid dynamics-coupled mathematical model for TGR-OBFs for future studies.

Keywords

• top gas recycling-oxygen blast furnace
• cold model
• shaft gas injection
• solid flow