Study on Kinetics of Iron Oxide Reduction by Hydrogen

Kinetics parameters of iron oxide reduction by hydrogen were evaluated by the isothermal method in a differential micro-packed bed. Influence of external diffusion, internal diffusion and heat transfer on the intrinsic reaction rate was investigated and the conditions free of internal and external diffusion resistance have been determined. In the experiments, in order to correctly evaluate the intrinsic kinetics parameters for reducing Fe2O3 to Fe3O4, the reaction temperatures were set between 440 °C and 490 °C. However, in order to distinguish the reduction of Fe3O4 to FeO from that of FeO to Fe, the reaction temperature in the experiment was set to be greater than 570 °C. Intrinsic kinetics of iron oxide reduction by hydrogen was established and the newly established kinetic models were validated by the experimental data.