Efficiency of hydrogen utilization in reduction processes in ferrous metallurgy

Abstract

Above all, existing blast furnace production comes about through innovations in the area of injection of alternative fuels as a partial substitute for metallurgical coke. These fuels have one common aspect; when they are used in metallurgical based industries, the hydrogen content in reducing gas is significantly increased. For variant calculations of the course of blast furnace smelting and the optimising of alternative fuels, a system of models of blast furnace smelting was developed at the VSB; Technical University of Ostrava. This system enables respect for basic limits and establishes the needed technological data for calculation of the injection efficiency of these fuels into blast furnaces. Some non-traditional alternative fuels have not been used in the process yet, here or abroad, and the use of the prognostic model system enables, in this way, a preliminary efficiency estimation of their application without the necessity of carrying out expensive and risky operating experiments. Following the first testing results, the influence of the share of hydrogen on the reduction process acceleration, and in the efficiency increase of iron production, is not negligible in any case.