The Decarburization Kinetics of Metal Droplets in Emulsion Zone

Abstract:

A mathematical model has been developed to predict the decarburization rate within individual droplets in the emulsion zone. All the chronological events pertaining to the life cycle of a metal droplet in the emulsion zone like oxygen supply (from slag), external and internal decarburization have been modeled dynamically and validated against experimental data available in open literature. The bloating behavior of metal droplets in the emulsion was represented theoretically by incorporating an escape function dependent on internal CO gas generation. The model is able to predict the onset of bloating and the residence time of metal droplets in the emulsion zone. The residence time of droplet containing 2.6 wt pct C and 0.007 wt pct S is in the range of 10 to 13 seconds. The contribution of decarburization rate in the emulsion zone to the overall decarburization rate is studied using the industrial data reported by Cicutti et al. The model predicts 5 to 75 pct of total decarburization takes place in the emulsion zone. It is found that the extent of decarburization of a metal droplet depends on its initial carbon content rather than its oxygen content for slag containing FeO greater than 10 wt pct.

Appendix A

Calculation of Interfacial Activities of Metal Droplet Components

The activity coefficients for carbon and oxygen can be calculated by taking into account the interaction parameters of carbon, oxygen, and sulfur.

$$ \log f_{\text{C}}^{r} = e_{\text{C}}^{\text{C}} \left[ {{\text{wt pct}} {\text{C}}} \right]^{r} + e_{\text{C}}^{\text{O}} \left[ {\text{wt pct O}} \right]^{r} + e_{\text{C}}^{\text{S}} \left[ {\text{wt pct S}} \right]^{r} $$

(A1)

$$ \log f_{\text{O}}^{r} = e_{\text{O}}^{\text{C}} \left[ {\text{wt pct C}} \right]^{r} + e_{\text{O}}^{\text{O}} \left[ {\text{wt pct O}} \right]^{r} + e_{\text{O}}^{\text{S}} \left[ {\text{wt pct S}} \right]^{r} $$

(A2)

The Henrian activities of carbon and oxygen are defined by,

$$ h_{\text{C}}^{r} = f_{\text{C}}^{r} \left[ {\text{wt pct C}} \right]^{r} $$

(A3)

$$ h_{\text{O}}^{r} = f_{\text{O}}^{r} \left[ {\text{wt pct O}} \right]^{r} $$

(A4)

Evaluation of Mole Fraction and Activity of (FeO)

The mole fraction of FeO at the droplet–slag interface is defined by the following equation

$$ X_{\text{FeO}}^{r} = \frac{{\left( {\text{wt pct FeO}} \right)^{r} }}{{M_{\text{FeO}} \left( {\frac{{{\text{wt pct FeO}}^{r} }}{{M_{\text{FeO}} }} + \frac{{{\text{wt pct SiO}}_{2}^{r} }}{{M_{{{\text{SiO}}_{ 2} }} }} + \frac{{{\text{wt pct}}\,{\text{MnO}}^{r} }}{{M_{\text{MnO}} }}} \right)}} $$

(A5)

The Raoultian activity of FeO at the interface can be defined by,

$$ a_{\text{FeO}}^{r} = \gamma_{\text{FeO}} X_{\text{FeO}}^{r} $$

(A6)

Balance of Supply and Consumption of Oxygen at the Interface

The equilibrium constant for decarburization reaction is defined as

$$ K_{\text{CO}} = \frac{{P_{\text{CO}}^{\text{ext}} }}{{h_{\text{C}}^{r} h_{\text{O}}^{r} }} $$

(A7)

The value of $P_{\text{CO}}^{\text{ext}}$ is taken to be equal to 1.5 atm (equal to the pressure of the furnace).

$$ K_{\text{FeO}} = \frac{{a_{\text{FeO}}^{r} }}{{h_{\text{O}}^{r} }} $$

(A8)

The Eqs. [A7] and [A8] can be rearranged in terms of $h_{\text{O}}^{r}$ and combined to arrive at the following equation

$$ \frac{{K_{\text{FeO}} }}{{a_{\text{FeO}}^{r} }} = \frac{{K_{\text{C}} h_{\text{C}}^{r} }}{{P_{\text{CO}} }} .$$

(A9)