EUROPEAN STEEL TECHNOLOGY AND APPLICATION DAYS 2017 - ESTAD 2017

Decreasing iron ore quality, higher substitution rates of main iron ores to cheaper raw materials due to economic pressure and increased environmental standards are constantly challenging the iron and steel producers. Changing the raw materials in an operating plant can significantly influence the sintering process. Adjusting all process parameters to regain stable and high productive operation takes considerable time and causes production losses. Furthermore changes in raw materials lead to variations in the process gas flows and emission concentrations. Therefore Primetals developed a model for numerical simulation of the sintering process. The sinter simulation model simulates all solid and gaseous flows during the sintering process. The influencing factors of the sinter process are implemented in the simulation tool either as input values (e.g. chemical composition of raw materials), boundary conditions (e.g. suction pressure) or calculation results. The simulation is highly flexible for different process scenarios and based on the integrated calculation models allows a more accurate prediction of process parameters and sinter off gas emissions. Furthermore Primetals Technologies has intensified their activities in the field of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) for an optimized design of the top burner system. The CFD software simulates not only the burner flame itself but also the complete combustion process within the whole ignition furnace and annealing hood. These results can be used for confirming engineering results and if required for changes of engineering in a very early point of project execution. This numerical simulation is well-established and a cost-efficient alternative to test series in laboratory scale.