Mameshin V. "Based on the bath hydrodynamics investigation by cold modeling, the improvements on the technology of smelt reduction"

The present dissertation paper is devoted to an acute scientific and technical problem of improvements on technologies of smelt reduction based on the research of bath hydrodynamics by methods of cold modeling. The author managed to clarify on exact mechanisms of physical and chemical interaction of coal particles with slag in smelt reduction when mixing of slag bath by barbotage blowing takes place consuming external gas source. With the thermal dynamics and kinetic calculations, the paper shows how main portion of iron reduces by solid carbon in one step scheme within gas-slag-coal suspension of the upper layer of barbotaged slag bath. The hydrodynamic structure of the liquid bath of a metallurgical unit "Romelt", which is a type of a smelt-reduction metallurgical unit, is first to appear as determined in this paper. The author finds out that the bath is represented as barbotage cells, which are initiated by horizontal gas jets blown into the slag bath. A horizontal gas jet within the liquid could beregarded as a linear source of barbotage. The paper determines the dynamics of a horizontal gas jet formation within the liquid when blowing is under the level of the liquid surface. The main parameters of a blowing zone and barbotage cells are established. The paper reveals that in the out-going zone of barbotaging gas, the gas-slag-coal suspension is forced back into the zone of down-moving jets of barbotage cells and occupy no more than a half of the surface of a slag bath. This author is the first who on the base of mathematical modeling of continuous flow reactor carried out the analysis how "Romelt" works. The time of iron in iron oxides and the time of iron reduction in a slag bath are found out. Phases of a slag bath are also determined. The investigation of material flows and their interconnection with thermal flows gives prerequisites to propose rational construction of the metallurgical unit "Romelt" connected with the steel-production metallurgical unit. This allows its more stable and high productive work. We present a technological scheme of the metallurgical unit "Romelt" of a converter type.