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Investigation of Molten Liquids Flow in the Blast Furnace Lower Zone: Numerical Modelling of Molten Slag Through Channels in a Packed Bed

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Abstract

Slag flow behaviour is critically important in the lower zone of the ironmaking blast furnace, and is closely related to the selection of charged raw materials, coke bed permeability, process stability and hot metal quality. To better understand the effect of slag properties on flow behaviour in the coke bed, a numerical approach was applied to characterize the slag flow through funnel analogues. These analogues were used to represent molten slag flow through the inter-particle voids of a coke packed bed. A critical funnel neck size, through which no slag flowed was experimentally established and confirmed by numerical modelling. The influence of slag wettability on the occurrence of blockage was also determined via numerical modelling. An increase in either contact angle or surface tension can make the occurrence of blockage easier. For a constant neck size, the relationship between surface tension and contact angle is non-linear. The status of the remaining slag in the funnel corresponding to different slag wettabilities was differentiated in terms of the blockage in the upper part and hanging in the lower part of the funnel. Modelling was also undertaken of slag flow through the inter-particle void between spherical particles to evaluate empirical correlations for predicting the remaining slag in the packed bed. These results show that the numerical approach is very useful in providing some level of guidance to help understand and predict the slag flow behaviour in the blast furnace ironmaking process.

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Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge funding from the Australian Research Council (ARC) through the Industrial Transformation Research Hubs Scheme under Project Number: IH130100017. The permissions from ArcelorMittal and BlueScope Ltd to publish are gratefully acknowledged. This research was undertaken with the assistance of resources and services from the National Computational Infrastructure (NCI), which is supported by the Australian Government.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Mechanical, Materials, Mechatronic and Biomedical Engineering, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW, 2522, Australia

    X. F. Dong, A. Jayasekara, B. J. Monaghan & P. Zulli

  2. ARC Research Hub for Australian Steel Manufacturing, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW, 2522, Australia

    X. F. Dong, A. Jayasekara & P. Zulli

  3. ArcelorMittal Maizieres Research SA, 57283, Maizéres-lés-Metz, France

    D. Sert, R. Ferreira & P. Gardin

  4. Coke & Ironmaking Technology, BlueScope Ltd, Wollongong, NSW, 2522, Australia

    S. J. Chew & D. Pinson

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  1. X. F. Dong
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Correspondence to X. F. Dong.

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Manuscript submitted May 27, 2020; Accepted October 11, 2020.

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Dong, X.F., Jayasekara, A., Sert, D. et al. Investigation of Molten Liquids Flow in the Blast Furnace Lower Zone: Numerical Modelling of Molten Slag Through Channels in a Packed Bed. Metall Mater Trans B 52, 255–266 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11663-020-02009-1

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