Optimization of a Channel-type Reactor for Continuous Steelmaking with Water-Oil-Air Models

• Published in: ISIJ International Vol. 34; no. 3; pp. 234 - 240
• Main Authors: Koch, Klaus, Bruckhaus, Ralf, Korte, Elizabeta, Roth, Christian, Falkus, Jan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: The Iron and Steel Institute of Japan 01.01.1994
• Subjects: backmixing; channel-type reactor; cold models; continuous steelmaking; countercurrent phase contact; fluid flow; mass transfer; reverse transitoric phase contact; water-oil-air experiments
• ISSN: 0915-1559; 1347-5460
• DOI: 10.2355/isijinternational.34.234

Investigations of channel-type reactors are of importance not only for the development of continuous steelmaking processes but also for the pretreatment of pig iron and posttreatment of crude steel. By means of residence time measurements and light section analysis, a channel-type reactor model specially designed for experiments with two (water-air, water-oil) and three phases (water-oil-air) has been developed. Special emphasis was thereby placed on the prevalence of piston flow during top-blowing with several lances in order to increase the area of reaction by emulsification at the interface between the two liquid phases. In the first experiments the flows of the liquid phases (water, oil) were optimized. Caprylic acid was used to simulate the mass transfer of tramp elements from the pig iron into the slag. The mass transfer was measured through conductivity, transferring the experience of discontinuous experiments to those which were conducted continuously. The different phase contacts: permanent, reverse transitoric (water is flowing continuously along permanent remaining oil layer) and countercurrent, were investigated in a channel-type reactor concerning the effect of mass transfer.