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A Model to Simulate Titanium Behavior in the Iron Blast Furnace Hearth

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Abstract

The erosion of hearth refractory is a major limitation to the campaign life of a blast furnace. Titanium from titania addition in the burden or tuyere injection can react with carbon and nitrogen in molten pig iron to form titanium carbonitride, giving the so-called titanium-rich scaffold or buildup on the hearth surface, to protect the hearth from subsequent erosion. In the current article, a mathematical model based on computational fluid dynamics is proposed to simulate the behavior of solid particles in the liquid iron. The model considers the fluid/solid particle flow through a packed bed, conjugated heat transfer, species transport, and thermodynamic of key chemical reactions. A region of high solid concentration is predicted at the hearth bottom surface. Regions of solid formation and dissolution can be identified, which depend on the local temperature and chemical equilibrium. The sensitivity to the key model parameters for the solid phase is analyzed. The model provides an insight into the fundamental mechanism of solid particle formation, and it may form a basic model for subsequent development to study the formation of titanium scaffold in the blast furnace hearth.

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Abbreviations

A αβ :

Interfacial area density

a :

General activity

C μ :

Turbulence model constant

D :

Diffusion coefficient

D m :

Molecular diffusivity

d s :

Solid particle size

ds0 :

Seeding particle size

d p :

Particle size of the packed bed

h :

Henrian activity

F d :

Solid-liquid drag force

F c :

Interaction force between the phase and the coke bed

f Ti :

Activity coefficient of Ti in hot metal

G :

The mass flux

ΔG :

Free energy of reaction

H :

Enthalpy

K N, K TiC, K TiN :

Equilibrium constants

\( \dot{m} \), \( \dot{m}_{C} \):

Interphase mass transfer rate of total mass and of each component

n s :

The particle number density of solid particle phase

n s0 :

Seeding particle number density

\( P_{{{\text{N}}_{2} }} \) :

Partial pressure of nitrogen

p :

Pressure

\( Pe \equiv {\frac{{Ud_{p} }}{D}} \) :

Peclet number

Q d :

Interphase heat transfer rate

R :

Universal gas constant

Re:

Reynolds number

r :

Phase volume fraction

r c :

Radius of atom

\( Sc \equiv {\mu \mathord{\left/ {\vphantom {\mu {\rho D}}} \right. \kern-\nulldelimiterspace} {\rho D}} \) :

Schmidt number

Sh:

Sherwood number

S n :

A source term in the number density equation

T :

Temperature

U :

Superficial velocity

U s :

Suspended solid superficial velocity

u :

True velocity vector

Y :

Mass fraction of a component

α s :

Suspended solid volume fraction in the void

ε :

Packed bed porosity

κ :

Boltzmann’s constant (1.3807 × 10–23 J K–1)

ρ :

Density

μ :

General viscosity of a phase or laminar viscosity of liquid

μ s :

Solid shear viscosity

μ t :

Turbulent viscosity

λ :

Thermal conductivity

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Acknowledgment

This work is supported by the Australian Research Council and BlueScope Steel Ltd.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory for Simulation and Modelling of Particulate Systems, School of Materials Science and Engineering, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia

    Bao-Yu Guo (Research Fellow) & Ai-Bing Yu (Professor)

  2. BlueScope Steel Research, Port Kembla, New South Wales, 2505, Australia

    Paul Zulli (Research Manager) & Daniel Maldonado (Research Engineer)

Authors
  1. Bao-Yu Guo
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  2. Paul Zulli
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  3. Daniel Maldonado
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  4. Ai-Bing Yu
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Correspondence to Ai-Bing Yu.

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Manuscript submitted October 8, 2009.

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Guo, BY., Zulli, P., Maldonado, D. et al. A Model to Simulate Titanium Behavior in the Iron Blast Furnace Hearth. Metall Mater Trans B 41, 876–885 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11663-010-9384-2

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