Effect of Ore and Coal Composition on Romelt Furnace Performance

Abstract

The paper provides calculations of the Romelt furnace performance when using iron ores and coals of different composition. It was shown that at a given value of heat flux from the post-combustion zone into slag bath, furnace performance depends not only on the iron content of ore, but also on the fixed carbon content of coal. A regression equation was developed to reflect the dependence of the specific performance on these parameters. It was shown that the coal quality has a greater impact on furnace performance when the iron content of ore is low. It was found that if the iron content of ore increases, a relative decrease in specific consumption of coal and oxygen is the same for all coals. It was shown that the degree of post-combustion of gases weakly depends on the iron content of ore, and is mainly determined by the composition of utilized coal.