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The lumpy zone in a blast furnace is composed of piles formed naturally during burden charging. The properties of this zone have significant effects on the blast furnace operation, including heat and mass transfer, chemical reactions and gas flow. The properties of the layers mainly include the angle of repose and porosity distribution. This paper introduces two methods, the Discharging Method and the Lifting Method, to study the influence of the packing method on the angle of repose of the pile. The relationships of the angle of repose and porosity with physical parameters are also investigated. The porosity distribution in the bottom of a pile shows a decreasing trend from the region below the apex to the center. The coordination number of the particles is employed to explain this change. The maximum of the frequency distribution of it was found to show a negative correlation to the static friction coefficient, but becomes insensitive to the parameter as the static friction coefficient increases above 0.6.

Charging directly affects the burden distribution of a blast furnace, which determines the gas distribution in the shaft of the furnace. Adjusting the charging can improve the distribution of the gas flow, increase the gas utilization efficiency of the furnace, reduce energy consumption, and prolong the life of the blast furnace. In this paper, a mathematical model of blast furnace charging was developed and applied on a steel plant in China, which includes the display of the burden profile, burden layers, descent speed of the layers, and ore/coke ratio. Furthermore, the mathematical model is developed to combine the radar data of the burden profile. The above model is currently used in Nanjing Steel as a reference for operators to adjust the charging. The model is being tested with a radar system on the blast furnace.

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This study examines the isothermal and non-isothermal reduction behaviors of iron ore compacts in a pure hydrogen atmosphere and compares the results obtained during the reduction process by CO. The different phases accompanying the reduction reactions were identified using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and its morphology was microscopically examined. In isothermal experiments, temperature plays a significant role in the reduction process. At any given temperature, the reduction rate during the initial stages is higher than that during the final stages. The reduction rate in H2 atmosphere was faster than in CO gas. The comparison of activation energy values suggested that reduction with H2 is more efficient than with CO. At the same temperature, the time required to achieve a certain degree of reduction was lower when using H2 gas than CO atmosphere. In non-isothermal tests, the heating rate has a significant effect on the reduction rate and reduction extent. At the same heating rate, the degree of reduction was higher in H2 atmosphere than in CO gas. Based on experimental data, the parameters of reaction kinetics were deduced by application of model-free and model-fitting methods. The reduction in H2 atmosphere was controlled by nucleation model (Avrami-Erofeev model), while the CO reduction reaction was controlled by gas diffusion.