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Study of Humidity on Moisture Transfer Characteristics in Iron Ore Sintering

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Abstract

The cold permeability of a sinter bed is a complex function of the granules’ effective mean diameter and bed moisture. The binding force provided by moisture before fusion commences crucial in determining the strength of a sinter. However, excess moisture is detrimental to the propagation of the heat front, because it reduces the bed’s permeability. The source of moisture can be either the inherent moisture in the bed or from the incoming gases due to suction in the bottom of the bed. An unsteady-state mathematical model was developed in the current study to describe the moisture transport phenomena during the iron ore sintering. The model was then validated using experimental data from laboratory sintering pot tests. Using the help of the model, the effect of humidity on the moisture characteristics was then investigated. The temperature profiles revealed that the change in the solid temperatures was less than 5% with increasing humid conditions.

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Abbreviations

\(\epsilon \) :

Void fraction

\(\lambda \) :

Sphericity factor

\(\mu \) :

Viscosity of gas (Pa s)

\(\rho _{{\mathrm{g}}}\) :

Density of gas (\({\hbox {kg/m}}^{3}\))

\(\rho _{j,{\mathrm{s}}}\) :

Density of solid component i (\({\hbox {kg/m}}^{3}\,{\hbox {bed}}\))

\(\rho _{{\mathrm{s}}}\) :

Density of solid (\({\hbox {kg/m}}^{3}\,{\hbox {bed}}\))

\(\vec {v}\) :

Superficial velocity (m/s)

\(A_{{\mathrm{v}}}\) :

Area of particle per unit volume of the bed (\({\hbox {m}}^{2}/{\hbox {m}}^{3}\,{\hbox {bed}}\))

\(C_{i,{\mathrm{g}}}\) :

Concentration of gas component i (\({\hbox {mol/m}}^{3}\,{\hbox {bed}}\))

\(C_{{\mathrm{p,s/g}}}\) :

Specific heat capacity of solid/gas (J/kg K)

\(D_{{\mathrm{m}}}\) :

Mass diffusivity (\({\hbox {m}}^{2}/{\hbox {s}}\))

\(d_{{\mathrm{p}}}\) :

Particle diameter (m)

\(f_{i/i'}\) :

Partition coefficient between solid and gas

h :

Heat transfer coefficient (\({\hbox {W/m}}^{2}\,{\hbox {K}}\))

\(H_{k}\) :

Enthalpy change (J)

\(k_{w}\) :

Mass transfer coefficient for drying/condensation reaction (\({\hbox {m}}^{2}/{\hbox {s}}\))

\(M_{k}\) :

Molar mass (kg/mol)

P :

Bed pressure (Pa)

\(P_{{\mathrm{H}}_{2}{\mathrm{O}},\,{\mathrm{sat}}}\) :

Partial pressure of moisture, saturated (Pa)

R :

Universal gas constant (J/mol K)

\(R_{k}\) :

Reaction rate \({\hbox {mol/m}}^{3}\,{\hbox {s}}\)

Re:

Reynolds number (\({\hbox {Re}}= \rho v d_{{\mathrm{p}}}/ \mu \))

\(S_{{\mathrm{s/g}}}\) :

Source term in solid and gas phase

Sc:

Schmidt number (\( {\hbox {Sc}} =\mu /\rho D_{{\mathrm{m}}}\))

Sh:

Sherwood number

t :

time (s)

\(T_{{\mathrm{s/g}}}\) :

Temperature of solid/gas (K)

\(w_{{\mathrm{cr}}}\) :

Critical moisture content

Z :

Relative humidity

z :

Location along depth of bed (m)

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Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank Prof. N. B. Ballal and Prof. N. N. Viswanathan at IIT Bombay for their helpful suggestions and thought-provoking discussions. The people at Ferrous Process Laboratory are also thanked for their help in carrying out the experiments. The author also acknowledges Mr. R. Gupta at McMaster University for his feedback on the manuscript.

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  1. McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada

    Angshuman Podder

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The author is currently a Ph.D. candidate in Materials Science Engineering at McMaster University. The work has been done during graduate studies at Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay.

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Correspondence to Angshuman Podder.

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Angshuman Podder: Formerly at Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai, India.

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Podder, A. Study of Humidity on Moisture Transfer Characteristics in Iron Ore Sintering. Trans Indian Inst Met 74, 1479–1487 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12666-021-02244-3

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