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G. Danloy (1), J. Mignon (1), R. Munnix (1), G. Dauwels (2), L. Bonte (2)
(1)
Centre for Research in Metallurgy (CRM), Liège, Belgium, www.crm-eur.com
(2)
Sidmar, Gent, Belgium, www.sidmar.be
Key Words : Blast furnace, Mathematical model, Burden distribution, Vertical probings, Gas tracing.
INTRODUCTION
Since several years, large efforts are made in the blast furnace field to increase the substitution of coke by
coal in order to meet changing economical and environmental conditions. The experience gained until now
shows that the increase of PCI rate induces important changes of gas distribution in the blast furnace which
influence the whole process, the performance and the service life. Gas flow monitoring is therefore regarded
as one of the keys to high PCI rates.
Gas distribution being the result of numerous interacting phenomena, the best approach consists in
establishing a mathematical model of the gas flow inside the blast furnace.
Basic principles
The blast furnace is modelled in a steady state. Therefore, it is assumed to be charged and emptied
continuously. The liquid level is considered as horizontal and fixed ; however, it is a parameter. The layered
structure is assumed to be fixed, which is allowed by the fact that the gas velocity is much higher than the
solids velocity.
Assuming an axial symmetry, the model is bi-dimensional and written in cylindrical co-ordinates. The
system of differential equations is solved by the finite differences method.
The input data are : the blast furnace geometry, the process data (blast conditioning, coal injection rate, top
pressure, etc.), the chemical and physical properties of the raw materials, the chemical composition of hot
metal and slag and the complete description of ore and coke layers (thickness and grain size distribution
along the radius).
The model simulates the burden distribution inside the whole blast furnace, the gas flow through the layered
structure, the solids flow, the liquids flow, the heat transfer between the different phases and with the walls,
the ore softening and melting in the cohesive zone as well as the main chemical reactions.
The work has been restricted to the main phenomena of the blast furnace. Some sub-models like liquids flow
and softening-melting have been simplified ; the phenomena taking place in the raceway have been limited
to a classical heat and mass balance. Attempts were made to include a char transportation and consumption
sub-model, but it was finally concluded that a research project completely devoted to this problem would be
necessary to approach a valuable solution.
Geometry
The blast furnace must be divided into a great number of cells in order to obtain a correct description of the
phenomena like the gas flow through the layers of materials. A compromise between the calculation time
and the quality of the results led to a grid of 20 x 120 cells. For a blast furnace of 10.5 m in hearth diameter,
the mesh dimension is then 0.30 m x 0.23 m. On a Digital Personal Workstation 433 AU, the computation
time amounts generally to 3 hours. This time depends highly on the degree of severity imposed for
convergence detection. This model working off line, such a high computation time is not really a dramatic
drawback. Moreover, it could still be improved by using more rapid calculators. The program is written in
FORTRAN.
Burdening model
Most plants already calculate the ore and coke layers geometry at the top with their own burden distribution
model adapted to their individual situation. The modular conception of the present model allows a perfect
integration of these existing auxiliary models. In the present work, we use the Sidmar burdening model [1]
which applies to a bell-less top. This model calculates the layers thickness as well as the grain size
distribution along the blast furnace radius. It calculates also the radial distribution of the resistance to gas
flow resulting from the Ergun's law.
The Sidmar burdening model (figure 2) takes into account the trajectory of each type of material for each
position of the chute, the thickness of the material flow, the dynamic effects generated at the impact point of
the materials on the burden surface, the grain size segregation (at the hoppers discharge, on the chute and on
the burden surface) and the percolation. The results are in good agreement with the microwave profilometer
measurements [2].
The structure and the properties of the layers are then
extended from the top to the bottom of the blast furnace
on the basis of the results of the solid flow sub-model
explained below.
Gas flow
The determination of the solids flow is based on is based on a potential model taking into account the
vanishing of solids by melting and by gasification. The main hypotheses are the following :
The main supplementary data required for the heat transfer description are the temperature of the gas issued
from the raceway and the standard heats of the chemical reactions. At steady state, the conservation of
energy and the thermal transfers between the solids, liquids and gas phases are described by :
The heat transferred by the liquids by conduction and radiation as well as the heat transferred by radiation by
the gas have been neglected.
The Kitaiev correlations [6] have been chosen to quantify the heat transfer coefficient between gas and
solids and to account for heat conduction inside the solid particles. However, like many authors, we have
applied a correction factor to the heat transfer coefficient at temperatures higher than 1000°C.
The heat transfer coefficients gas-liquids and solids-liquids have been determined by calibration on
industrial data in order to produce hot metal and slag at the right temperature.
The boundary conditions are expressed by the wall temperatures, themselves calculated by the following
heat transfer equation :
h p . ( T w - T wat ) = h w . ( Tg - T w )
The global heat transfer coefficient wall-cooling water has been determined in function of the height by
calibration on industrial data from BF B of Sidmar. The coefficient hw is calculated following the method set
up by Yagi and Kunii [7].
The cohesive zone starts where the solids reach 1200°C and ends where the ore is completely melted. The
ore melting degree is calculated from the available heat resulting of heat transfer. It is calculated by means
of an under-relaxation procedure which continues until convergence i.e. until the assumed and calculated
vertical positions of both isotherms don't differ more than a half mesh, which means about 0.12 m in height.
Chemical reactions sub-model
The gas composition and flow rate are known at the tuyere tip. It is supposed that in a given cell the
chemical reactions develop without any interference and that no diffusion of chemical species occur from
one cell to the others. Iron and slag are supposed to reach their final composition as soon as they are formed
in the cohesive zone.
In each cell, and for each chemical species, the continuity equation is expressed by
∇ . (Fi) = Ri
Fi flux vector of the i species expressed on the empty section of the reactor [kmol/m2.s]
Ri difference between generation and consumption rates of the i species [kmol/m3.s].
A single stage reduction model applied to porous spherical particles is used [8, 9]. The reactions are of first
order relative to the partial pressures of the gas components. The diffusion inside the particles is considered
but the diffusion through the boundary layer outside the particles is neglected, as it is of minor importance.
Various expressions of the reaction rate constant can be found in literature. We adopted the following value
[m/h] which is based on reduction tests performed in the 80ies in CRM laboratory :
The value was obtained from the application of the preceding equations to experimental results. The
equilibrium is calculated according to the results of Darken and Gurry [10].
For coke gasification by CO2, a gasification model applied to porous spherical particles is used [9]. The
reaction rates are of first order relative to the partial pressures of CO2 and CO. The diffusion of gas through
the external boundary layer as well as through the pores of coke is taken into account. We use the reaction
rate constant determined by Heynert [11].
The kinetics of reaction 4 is assumed proportional to the kinetics of reaction 2. Reaction 5 is assumed at
equilibrium above 850°C ; below this temperature, it is neglected.
The calibration of the model is based on experimental data obtained by vertical probings and by gas tracing
at blast furnace B of Sidmar. The results are illustrated below.
The burden consisted of 88 % sinter and 12 % pellets. The coke rate was 287 kg/thm (including 27 kg/thm
of nut coke charged together with sinter) with a coal rate of 178 kg/thm. The production level was 65
thm/m2.day or 2.7 thm/m3.day.
The measured and calculated temperature profiles are reported at figures 6 and 7. The long thermal reserve
zone observed on probes 1 to 4 is reproduced by the calculations but some tuning is still necessary to
improve the fitting. The drying of solids shown by probe 1 below 5 m needs also to be improved in the
simulation. Between 1000°C and 1300°C, area of reactions 2 and 4, the patterns of calculated temperature
profiles are similar to those measured. Results concerning probes 5 and 6 can be regarded as good.
Experimental and calculated results concerning the progress of chemical reactions are compared on a
Chaudron diagram at figures 8 and 9. On both figures, the gas path shows a similar behaviour which leads to
the conclusion that the chemical phenomena are fairly well simulated.
These comparisons lead to the conclusion that the mathematical model simulates correctly the main
phenomena involved in the blast furnace process.
The charging procedure being the most important means to influence the gas distribution, we selected by
means of the Sidmar burdening model three typical charging procedures promoting without any doubt a
central, a peripheral and an intermediate gas distribution. The layers configurations resulting from the
Sidmar burdening model appear at the top of figure 13, as well as the radial distribution of the coke volumic
fraction and of the resistance to gas flow.
With charging pattern n°1, the coke volumic fraction reaches 100 % at the blast furnace center and only
22 % at the wall ; as a consequence, the resistance to gas is very low at the center and relatively high at the
wall. With charging pattern n° 2, coke and ore are distributed in such a way to obtain a uniform distribution
of the resistance to gas flow. It is interesting to observe that the coke proportion is higher at the wall than at
the centre because it is necessary to compensate for the grain size segregation effect. Charging pattern n° 3
has been designed to create a low resistance zone at the furnace periphery ; at the wall, the coke proportion
reaches 54 %.
The operation data have been described in the preceding chapter. In order to highlight the influence of the
burden distribution, all the parameters of the model are kept constant for the three simulations.
Figure 13 shows the gas temperature map and the calculated cohesive zone in the three cases. These results
are in good agreement with industrial experience. It is also worth mentioning that the cohesive zone is much
thinner with charging pattern n° 1.
In the dry zone, the three pressure profiles are almost superposed, but they differ greatly in the cohesive and
dripping zones. The calculated pressure drops are respectively 0.99 bar, 2.19 bar and 1.38 bar for the
charging patterns n° 1, 2 and 3. Such a classification agrees well with experience.
In practice, the characteristic curve of the blower will
impose the operating conditions, so that charging
patterns n° 2 and 3 will result into lower blast and
production rates. To obtain a pressure loss of 0.99 bar in
the three cases, the model calculates that the
productivity will be respectively 64.8, 46.1 and 52.6
thm/m2.day (i.e. 100 %, 71 % and 81 %).
Charging type
Unit
1 2 3
Pressure loss bar 0.99 2.19 1.38
thm/m2.24 h 64.8 46.1 52.6
Productivity for a pressure loss of 0.99 bar
% 100 71 81
MJ/tHM 141 195 212
Heat losses through the walls
kW 9130 12780 13760
Top gas CO2 / (CO + CO2) - 0.488 0.525 0.527
Top gas temperature at BF centre °C 818 161 46
The influence of the production rate on the blast furnace performance has been simulated for two different
charging patterns, one leading to a central operation and one leading to a uniform operation. Figures 17 and
18 illustrate the effects observed on the cohesive zone.
DISCUSSION OF THE RESULTS
The model results show that the gas flow pattern and the cohesive zone are mainly dictated by the burden
distribution.
The validity field of the model could be enlarged by the modelling of other phenomena such as the
behaviour of unburnt coal particles, voidage modifications, grain size alteration, channelling, accretion,
scaffolding and peeling. As it includes the main phenomena involved in the blast furnace process and their
interrelations, the present model is an appropriate frame to the development of such additional modelling
work.
CONCLUSIONS
A mathematical model has been developed which simulates the main phenomena involved in the blast
furnace process at steady state. It has been calibrated with experimental data obtained by vertical probings
and by gas tracing at blast furnace B of Sidmar.
The model results show the strong influence of the burden distribution pattern on the gas distribution and on
the different operating results such as the pressure drop, the productivity, the shape and position of the
cohesive zone, the top gas temperature profile and the heat losses through the wall. As a consequence, it can
be used to simulate and to forecast the influence of the burden distribution changes which are made by the
operator. Therefore, it is a powerful tool to help him to choose the proper burden distribution pattern in
function of the desired effect on the blast furnace results.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This research has been carried out with financial support from the Belgian Public Authorities and from the
ECSC.
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