Experimental and numerical study of the rib effect in a gas-gas heat exchanger performance used in a sponge iron production plant (MIDREX)

Heat loss is a leading cause of heightened global temperatures and carbon dioxide. The energy crisis has raised concerns on addressing heat recovery, especially in iron and steel industries. Iron and steel industries are consuming roughly 10 to 15 percent of the world’s energy. Increasing the production of heat recovery can reduce carbon dioxide production, which in effect decreases the overall cost of production. This article evaluates heat recovery in a gas-gas heat exchanger of a sponge production using the direct reduction by gas method in the MIDREX process. In this research a numerical and experimental study on ribs placed on the chosen heat exchanger in the MIDREX process has been performed. Based on results obtained from the other study, a reasonable width and height range was selected for the ribs. The best performance evaluation criterion (PEC) based on the numerical results was obtained at the lowest width and highest height of the rib. The best value for PEC was found at 1.15.