Effect of Gangue on Hydrogen DRI Production, Electric Smelter and EAF Energy Requirements

The variation in gangue content in iron ores will affect the energy requirements of hydrogen DRI production and subsequent processing in electric smelting furnaces (ESF) and electric arc furnaces (EAF). The thermodynamics of these processes were modeled considering iron ore compositions with gangue contents from 5.2 wt.% to 19.4 wt.%. The models developed were validated against industrial data. The specific energy requirements of DRI, ESF and EAF were all significantly increased (>15%) over the range of gangue contents studied. At high gangue contents, directly feeding DRI into an EAF is predicted to greatly affect metallic yield (<80 wt.%).

Dr. Geoffrey Brooks | Swinburne University of Technology
 

Dr M. Shahabuddin | National University of Singapore
 

Dr Alireza Rahbari | Australian National University
 

Dr Shabnam Sabah | Swinburne University of Technology
 

Associate Professor John Pye | Australian National University
 

Professor M. Akbar Rhamdhani | Swinburne University of Technology