Influence of Iron Ore Indirect Reduction on the Transfer Process in Porous Media

The solid material used in most metallurgical reactions can be considered as porous media consisting of the accumulated pellets. When the fluid flows through the porous media, various chemical reactions may occur between the fluid and solid matrix which have a significant effect on the transfer process in the porous media. Based on derivation of the overall rate formulation of the representative elementary volume (REV), a mathematical model describing the transfer process in the porous media was established. The model was tested numerically by applying the implicit formulation finite volume method. The predictions were validated by comparison with the experimental results and literature data. For the indirect reduction of iron ores, the influence of the flow rate, the particle size, reaction rate, the dimension of the reactor, and the ratio of the Thielet number to the Peclet number on the distribution of gas concentration and the solid conversion degree were analyzed.