Effect of Silicon Carbide-Coated Coke on Slag Flow Behavior Under Hydrogen Co-injection in Ironmaking Processes

초록

The introduction of hydrogen gas into the lower section of the blast furnace or the FINEX Melter-Gasifier facilitates the formation of a silicon carbide (SiC) layer on the surface of coke particles. The SiC layer significantly improves the wetting properties within the slag-coke system, thereby influencing the dripping behavior of molten slag through the coke bed. In this study, the flow behavior of slag was analyzed in both SiC-coated and uncoated coke particles through high-temperature experiments, along with a simulation combining the discrete element method and computational fluid dynamics. Two types of particle arrangements were examined: paired columns and random mixtures of SiC-coated and uncoated coke particles. The findings revealed that in the paired column arrangements, SiC-coated coke particle beds retained less slag compared to the uncoated counterparts. Conversely, in the randomly mixed bed of SiC-coated and uncoated coke particles, the slag flow tended to create channels through the network of SiC-coated particles in which more slag was retained than in uncoated ones. These results emphasize the crucial role of SiC-coated coke particles in minimizing slag holdup during hydrogen co-injection in blast furnace and FINEX Melter-Gasifier operations, thereby enhancing productivity and operational stability.

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