Iron ore reduction by methane partial oxidation in a porous media

•Syngas production in a porous media reactor.•Iron ore reduction by hydrogen and carbon monoxide.•Numerical and experimental investigation.•Sensitivity analysis for equivalence ratio and iron ore pellets size.•Metallization degree for high H2 and CO concentrations.

In this work, iron ore reduction by the gaseous products of methane partial oxidation in a porous media (H2 and CO) is studied numerically and experimentally. A new fixed-bed reactor was designed to perform the reduction tests, along with the development of a mathematical model that considers reduction reactions, mass balance and energy equations for both gas and solid phases. The experimental results show a low reduction degree at equivalence ratio (φ) of 1.2 and allow model parameterization. The model was applied to sensitivity analyses regarding to operation parameters such as equivalence ratio and iron ore pellets size. The performed analysis predicts favorable metallization degree for high equivalence ratios (or high H2 and CO concentrations) and smaller pellets.