Numerical Simulation Model of the Iron Ore Sintering Process Directly Describing the Agglomeration Phenomenon of Granules in the Packed Bed

• Published in: ISIJ International Vol. 40; no. 5; pp. 448 - 454
• Main Authors: Ramos, Maximiano V., Kasai, Eiki, Kano, Junya, Nakamura, Takashi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Tokyo The Iron and Steel Institute of Japan 01-01-2000; Iron and Steel Institute of Japan
• Subjects: agglomeration; Applied sciences; DEM; Exact sciences and technology; granules; heat transfer; iron ore sintering; Metals. Metallurgy; Ores; packed bed; Production of metals; simulation; Size enlargement: roasting, sintering, pelleting, agglomeration; structural change; Finite element method; Packed bed; Theoretical study; Numerical simulation; Ore sintering; Modeling; Iron ore; Heat transfer
• ISSN: 0915-1559; 1347-5460
• DOI: 10.2355/isijinternational.40.448

Comprehensive numerical simulation model was developed to describe the structural changes in the iron ore sintering bed by using the discrete element method (DEM). The heat wave propagation through the sintering bed was incorporated by combining the solutions of the various reaction rates and gas–granule heat transfer with the calculation of the granule movement by DEM. Simulations were conducted under different conditions, i.e., different carbon content and melting temperature of the granules. Results show that both carbon content and melting temperature of the granule influence the final structure of the sintering bed. The obtained structural change of the sintering bed show that the proposed model is a potential tool to analyse the agglomeration phenomena occurring in the iron ore sintering process under various conditions.