Method and apparatus for producing molten iron

Abstract

A system for producing molten iron from iron ores, including a direct reduction shaft furnace, a melting zone in a melting furnace having a coke bed in its lower portion and a charging and preheating chamber in its upper portion, and at least one reducing gas generation zone in communication with said melting zone.

Description

RELATED APPLICATIONS / PATENTS & INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE [0001] A claim of priority is made to U.S. Provisional Application No. 60 / 507,160, filed Sep. 30, 2003.[0002] Each of the applications and patents cited in this text, as well as each document or reference cited in each of the applications and patents (including during the prosecution of each issued patent; “application cited documents”), and each of the PCT and foreign applications or patents corresponding to and / or claiming priority from any of these applications and patents, and each of the documents cited or referenced in each of the application cited documents, are hereby expressly incorporated herein by reference. More generally, documents or references are cited in this text, either in a Reference List before the claims, or in the text itself; and, each of these documents or references (“herein-cited references”), as well as each document or reference cited in each of the herein-cited references (including any manufactu...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0018] It is a further object of the invention to provide an improved system for producing molten iron adapted for its installation in conjunction with existing direct reduction plants, in order to substitute and efficiently utilize fuels having a lower cost that natural gas and therewith produce high quality pig-ir

Problems solved by technology

Blast furnaces, however, require costly coke.

This has several drawbacks, not the least of which is that coking coal is not found throughout the world.

Thus, in many instances it must be imported at great cost to the iron producer.

Along with the cost associated with transforming coal into coke, coking plants are not considered environmentally friendly under new pollution regulations in many countries.

But to date, these processes have failed to provide an operational plant capable of producing molten iron at competitive prices when compared with blast furnaces or with combined direct reduction and electric furnace facilities.

Hot reducing gases and powdered carbon are introduced toward a molten iron bath in the melting portion of the furnace, Stift's process however requires additional heat to be provided to the hot gases besides the heat produced by the partial combustion, and the integration of the reduction shaft with the melting furnace does not allow for providing the optimal conditions for the three main processes involved, namely: reduction of ores, melting of reduced ores and production of reducing gases.

For example, since the oxidation reactions of the fuel take place inside the melting furnace, some of the reactants may react with the bed of coke and co

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