Design and CFD Analysis of a Novel Compact Mixing Chamber in Blast Furnace Ironmaking

Homogeneous mixing of hot air from the hot blast stove with suitable quantity of cold air in a mixing chamber is very essential to maintain uniform temperature of hot air at all tuyers of a blast furnace. Proper design of the mixing chamber is very important for stable and efficient operation of blast furnace, lower energy consumption, and lower carbon dioxide emission. Comprehensive understanding of the physics of the mixing process is very essential for efficient design of the mixing chamber. In this paper CFD simulations are conducted to analyze the mixing of hot and cold air in a tangential cold gas inlet type and in a radial cold gas inlet type mixing chambers, which are commonly used in the industry. Results show that both types of mixing chamber produce very non-homogeneous mixture of cold and hot air despite having large mixing length in the long hot blast main. Also, design of a novel compact mixing chamber is presented and CFD analysis of this mixing chamber is conducted. The new mixing chamber is found to produce almost homogeneously mixed air stream within a very short length due to very high turbulence of the intensely swirling air flow. Also, the new mixing chamber is found to save large amount of high quality thermal energy, which is wasted in the other two designs through the wall of the long hot blast main.

Research on heating technology of regenerative oxidation used low concentration CBM in small coal mine

Aiming at the problems such as low CBM utilization rate caused by low concentration CBM with methane content less than 8% extracted from a small coal mine in Hancheng mining area, Shaanxi Province, and serious environmental pollution caused by coal-fired hot blast stove for heating, the heat storage and oxidation heating technology of ultra-low concentration gas in small coal mine was studied by combining field investigation and heat balance calculation, and ultra-low concentration gas regenerative oxidation was obtained through thermal oxidation technology scheme. This technology replaces the coal-fired hot blast stove, realizes “coal and CBM mining and sharing” in the coal mine, and constructs a virtuous cycle development of “promoting drainage by using and promoting safety by drainage”. The research shows that: the scheme improves the utilization rate of CBM in the mining area, cancels the consumption of coal combustion, and can use 2.59 million Nm3 of pure CBM every year, generating 1.95 million yuan of economic benefits. And the emissions reduction of CO2 equivalent is 36000 tons. The benefits of safety, economy and environmental protection are remarkable. This technology is especially suitable for the utilization of ultra-low concentration CBM whose concentration is less than 8%, which has practical significance to improve the CBM utilization rate and promote the realization of the goal of “zero emission”.