Simulation of the flow, temperature, and concentration fields in the reactor of the HIsmelt process

ABSTRACT

The flue gas temperature of the Smelting Reduction Vessel (SRV) in the HIsmelt process is high while the temperature of the molten iron is low. Therefore, the heat transfer efficiency between the upper and lower regions in the SRV needs to be further improved. The fluid flow and heat transfer characteristics inside the SRV were studied to derive the mass fraction, temperature distribution, and gas motion. The error between the simulated and measured values remained stable within 5%. The gas in the centre of the SRV shows a high-speed vortex flow. The combustion reaction mainly occurs in the centre of the furnace. Since the heat transfer in the furnace is mainly influenced by the gas flow, the high-temperature zone shows a U-shaped distribution and is mainly around the centre of the region, the oxygen lance outlet, and the furnace wall.

KEYWORDS:

• Smelting reduction vessel
• HIsmelt
• heat transfer
• fluid flow
• velocity field
• temperature field
• combustion
• concentration field

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation [Project No.: BX20200045 and 2021M690370] and the State Key Laboratory of Vanadium and Titanium Resources Comprehensive Utilization [Project No.: 2020P4FZG06A]