Analysis of temperature profile and % metallization in rotary kiln of sponge iron process through CFD

• 2D CFD based model is developed for simulation of sponge iron rotary kiln process.
• Effects of varying inclination angle, rotation and iron ore flow rate are studied.
• Based on optimum conditions, Fe content, temperature profiles are found.
• For optimum mesh size grid independent test is performed.
• Temperature profiles of gas are well compared with industrial and published literature.

The present paper deals with 2D CFD model of sponge iron rotary kilns. Using this model the effects of variations of input parameters, such as angle of inclination, number of rotation and mass flow rate of iron ore are studied on output parameters like Fe content, temperature profile. These ranges of input parameters are found from industrial practice. For this purpose different models of CFD such as Species transport model, k-epsilon viscous model, Discrete Ordinates (DO) and P1 model, and finite rate/eddy dissipation model are used to find Fe content, temperature profiles. The results of the 2D CFD model show that optimum angle is found as 2.8°. The optimum number of rotation and flow rate of iron ore is found as 4.7 and 5.83 kg/s, respectively. At these optimum conditions the Fe content is predicted as 92%, which is 4.5% more in comparison to existing system that is being operated at angle of inclination, number of rotation and mass flow rate of iron ore as 2.5°, 4.3 rpm and 5.83 kg/s, respectively. The temperature profiles of gas and bed are also found within acceptable temperature limits. The results are compared well with the published work.

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