Ring formation, accretion build up in DR kilns

Above phenomena adversely affect kiln operation, productivity, kiln avilability per year, maintenance cost etc. Yet, many / most DR units are perhaps not so serious on the issue - plants of various capacities (100 tpd-500 tpd) are often having average campaign life as low as 30-50 days. Important points are: (a) what should be the minimum / maximum / optimum campaign life (b) how to increase campaign life (c) why does ring / accretion form in particular zones - it is even observed that rings / build up form around zones say 30-50% from inlet. May we start a discussion. May I expect owners / key management / production personnel to take active part in the discussion.
6 months ago

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vishnu

vishnu K. Generally when there is a large amount of Fines going in the kiln you shall find ring formation in the initial zones of the kiln. But generally when observed the ring formation generally takes place in the later part of the kiln i.e. near the outlet. Moreover now a days many of the plants are using iron ore pellets which is a much processed form of iron ore, here i have a major question arising should there actually be any accretion formation / ring formation in a kiln using pellets because there is no contamination entering the kiln
6 months ago

vishnu

vishnu K. Can you let us know the material that was being run during the 230 days campaign
6 months ago

vishnu

vishnu K. Does modified process conditions relate only to better process engineering or also to any changes in the kiln design, and also would like to know is there any benefit if having corse size of coal seperately for feeding from outlet and inlet side
6 months ago

Pabitra

Pabitra M. (a) Modified process conditions are arrived at after process analysis which is based on prevailing design - so, modified conditions are advised on the basis of prevailing design. Normally, change in design is not a very logical step - it calls for additional investment too. A process engineer's job is to understand and analyse the problem, and advice changes in process conditions within the restricted framework of design, raw materials etc. Anyone will love to have ore/pellet with 65%+ FeT, and so on, coal with min 35 FC, ash 25 max and so on, etc etc let us think of the reality! Where/how to get that ore/coal and at what price? Much better is to suggest conditions under which best techno-economical results are achieved. (b) Coal size distribution is important - but again a reality - can anyone have desired coal size distribution when coal varies from truck-to-truck, wagon-to-wagon, rake-to-rake?
6 months ago

Sanjay

Sanjay C. As per my experience, I can say Oxygen enrichment from Outlet end can enhance kiln operating days. As the more coal we feed, the more ash we are feeding into the kiln. These fused ash are the main culprit in ring formation. Oxygen enrichment reduces coal consumption as well as specific cost too. Can anybody enlighten some more on it?
5 months ago

Pabitra

Pabitra M. (a) "Oxygen enrichment reduces coal consumption" - how and why plz? (b) "These fused ash are the main culprit in ring formation" - does chemical analysis of ring/accretion say that?
5 months ago

Thomas j

Thomas j C. On the long running plant, can you give the details on placement of on-board burners if any, details of length of kiln and dia., physical and chemical analysis of raw material feed for iron ore and for coal? Is supplemental fuel used? Do you have monitors/on-boared thermocouples and at what locations? As compared to burners? Need to know the design of dam on discharge. Type of refractory? chemistry and brick or castable?
5 months ago

jai

jai V. actually i am working in 100 tpd kiln. i have seen that mostly ring formation occur at outlet side of kiln and mosty 10 metre away frm the outlet. our 100 tpd kiln length is 42 metre and mostly ring formation is outtlet. inlet is fresh.but due to ring formation we are unable to control the outlet hood pressure which result sometime burning of bellow of CB pipe. coming to raw material we feed 58-60 Fe(T) iron ore with maintaing C/Fe at 0.39.but then again we exp. shorther campain. plz suggest how to overcome and reduce ring formation at outlet and increace the campaign life..
4 months ago

Pabitra

Pabitra M. jai ring formation around 20-30% from outlet is very common. the most difficult job in DR is to reduce the wustite to Fe - if that can be controlled properly, control of other aspects becomes easier - it is like the old saying [re: saving] "if we can take care of paisas, rupees will take care of themselves". in most, if not all cases, to reduce the wustite, the temperature around outlet [20-30%] is increased. it is encouraging to note that you feed 58-60 FeT ore and achieve C/Fe 0.4 max - although you have not mentioned the coal FC. it appears to me, in the absence of details, your coal distribution (inlet/outlet) vis-a-vis air profile need to be assessed and modified if necessary. i tend to guess at this stage that temperature profile (hence metallisation profile) is having bumpy and/or pretty steep (rising) gradient (towards outlet), after say 60/70% kiln length from inlet - that is in the last 30-40% length.
4 months ago

P.R.K.Raju

P.R.K.Raju C. Most of the times ring formation is due to manual errors like not maintaiing temperatures and keeping process engineering with out knowledge. My observation is most of the times the night time process perameters are controlled from control room with out checking physically. Many DR plants donot have the process engineers with proper knowledge.
4 months ago

Pabitra

Pabitra M. PRKR: Amazing observation (night time process perameters are controlled - - ) indeed! hah! hah! hah! Looking at the 'C' shift log sheets of some units, I have observed in some cases, that between 12 midnight and 4 am [particularly during cold winter], the bed/gas QRT temperatures are virtually the same as those of say 12 noon and

4pm ('A'/'B' shift). For data analysis, such data is to be filtered/eliminated as "noise". However, that is definitely NOT THE cause for accretion/ring formation. Rather, lack of process engineering is responsible.
4 months ago

yu

yu W. hi all, i'm a student, we research the effect of rank and particle size of coal on the melting behavior of low grade(43%Fe) of hematite in the temperature range of 1100 to 1200C, it seems relate to ring formation
3 months ago

P.R.K.Raju

P.R.K.Raju C. Dear Wen, In the rotary kiln the iron ore used will be mostly above 60% Fe. Please do a research for the iron ore from 55% fe to 60% fe. That will be more useful.
3 months ago

yu

yu W. Dear Raju, thank you for your advice, in fact, we use a new method to extract metallic iron from difficultto-process ores, namely coal-based direct reduction-magnetic separation, the hematite was reduced to metallic iron and iron grain aggregation in roasted stage, and then the reduced composite pellet was ground to liberation size and separated by magnetic separation. The type and particle size of coal present a important effect on the smelting behavior of the pellet, as you know, the smelting behavior relate to the growth of metallic iron which affecting the separation of iron from slag. Sorry my english is very poor, is my pleasure to talk with you!
3 months ago

Thomas j

Thomas j C. Oh well, I guess noone is willing to part with details of their process or design in order for us to assist in the mystery of accretions. So we can continue this speculative discussion on the subject without any real answers or experience? Let me know when you are willing to part with something! tcinc002@aol.com
3 months ago

P.R.K.Raju

P.R.K.Raju C. Mr.wen please send your address and mobile number to me . iam visiting Beijing next month. we meet and discuss more. prksouth@gmail.com