Reducing emissions of PCDD/F in sintering plant: numerical and experimental analysis

Abstract

The sintering operation in integrated steelworks is one of the main sources for the production of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins, polychlorinated-dibenzo-furans, NO_x and SO_x. In the present study, the operating conditions, through which a reduction in emissions can be achieved, were defined through numerical analysis. The following process parameters were evaluated: gas temperature, quantities of chlorine and copper and additions of hydrated lime, sulphur and urea. Using the optimisation software modeFRONTIER (ESTECO), a virtual surface that can reproduce the actual process of sintering was created. Additionally, with the application of filtering to post-sintering gas, such as electrostatic precipitator and wetfine scrubber, it was possible to obtain a reduction in emission values within the limits of international protocol Aarhus.

Keywords:

• Iron ore sintering
• Dioxin emission
• Numerical analysis
• Process optimisation