EVALUATING THE POSSIBILITIES FOR IMPROVING THE TECHNOLOGY USED FOR THE LIQUID-PHASE REDUCTION OF IRON

摘要

The processes that have been developed for liquid-phase reduction (LPR) have not yet gained commercial acceptance on a consistent basis. However, these methods have some important advantages over the traditional coking-sintering-blast-furnace-melting technology used to make pig iron. With the startup of the first industrial units for LPR, this technology will begin to play an increasingly larger role in the growth of ferrous metallurgy. If the necessary mathematical models and computer programs are developed, it will be possible to reliably predict the technical and economic indices of different versions of LPR. The mathematical models that have already been developed make it possible to select the variants of the technology that will be most effective for specific given conditions, based on chosen optimization criteria and established constraints. A dynamic LPR simulator that has also been developed is making it possible to improve the methods currently available for real-time control of the technology.