NUMERICAL INVESTIGATION OF NON-TRADITIONAL GASEOUS FUEL INJECTION INTO THE IRONMAKING BLAST FURNACE

As the largest source of iron in North America, and as the largest energy consumer in the modern integrated steel mill, the blast furnace is a critical part of modern ironmaking. Any improvements that can be made to the efficiency or emissions of the blast furnace can have far reaching environmental impacts as the production of one ton of steel results in 1.85 tons of carbon dioxide emissions. Given the concerted push to reduce greenhouse emissions, novel technologies are needed to improve efficiency. In this study the injection of preheated natural gas, precombusted syngas from a variety of feedstocks, and hydrogen injection were all modeled using computational fluid dynamics, from the tuyere through the shaft of the furnace. The impacts of these various operational changes were evaluated using CFD calculated analogs for Raceway adiabatic flame temperature (RAFT), top gas temperature (TGT), and coke rate (CR). Results indicate that a reduction of 3% to 12% in CO2 emissions is possible through the implementation of these technologies, with each possessing distinct benefits and drawbacks for industrial implementation.