Method of and apparatus for manufacturing the metallic iron

Abstract

A method of manufacturing reduced iron at high Fe purity efficiently with less intrusion of a slag components using less carbonaceous reducing agent and fuel, comprising charging a compact of the iron oxide containing a carbonaceous reducing agent in a packed bed, reducing the iron oxide to 90% or more while keeping in a solid state by a heat source formed from the lower portion of the furnace and then melting the same, as well as an apparatus for manufacturing the metallic iron, comprising a fire grate disposed in the inside of a packed bed, a compact charged layer on the fire grate, a charging product charging mechanism for supplying the compact and a mechanism for discharging an exhaust gas in the furnace, and a fuel charging mechanism, a fuel combustion space and a molten product stores bath disposed below the fire grate.

Description

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention

[0002] This invention concerns a technique of heating iron oxide containing materials such as iron ores together with carbonaceous reducing agents such as carbon materials and reducing and melting them to obtain metallic iron and, more specifically, it relates to a method of and an apparatus for manufacturing the metallic iron at high purity by separating a slag components intruded as a gangue mineral in iron oxide sources by using a packed bed.

[0003] 2. Statement of Related Art

[0004] As a direct reduction method of directly reducing the iron oxides such as iron ores or iron oxide pellets by a carbon source such as a carbon material or a reducing gas, a packed bed method represented by a Midrex process has been known so far. The direct reduction method of this type is a method of blowing a reducing gas reformed, for example, from natural gases through bustle ports charging mechanism at a lower portion of a packed bed and reducing iron oxides by utiliz...

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