Analysis of the influence mechanisms of activated oxygen streams on dust emission processes in oxygen-converter process

Abstract

In the global practice of ferrous metallurgy, in connection with the aggravation of the environmental issue of the production process and the need to find new methods of general improvement of manufacturability, non-traditional methods of intensification are increasingly being turned to, which expand the capabilities of existing metallurgical processes and do not require significant capital investments and drastic changes in production. In this regard, it is urgent to carry out research on methods of exposure to activated oxygen jets by creating an active ozone-containing gas flow through the upper blowing nozzle. In this case, the resource- and energy-saving effect can be obtained due to: increase in the degree of absorption of oxygen by the melt with the corresponding intensification of heat and mass transfer processes in the converter bath, which leads to an increase in the productivity of oxygen converters; saving of charge materials due to improvement of slag formation and exclusion of high-cost lacquer thinners; decrease in the intensity of smoke formation and removal of dust from the unit as a result of the interaction of the activated oxidizing jet with dust particles. The research was carried out based on the obtained laboratory results of the study of the activation of the oxygen gas jet by a brush electric discharge when blowing both a cold model (which simulated a blowing nozzle) and an oxygen converter model. The process of high-voltage activation of oxygen and oxygen-containing gases leads to additional thermal dissociation of oxygen molecules with the formation of ions and charged complexes (radicals) of positive and negative charge. The conducted analytical research established the predominant formation of positive particles in the gas flow along the entire length of the jet, which contributes to the formation of ozone molecules with a higher oxidizing capacity than oxygen, and the provision of a positive charge to the gas flow with the possibility of attracting and thickening dust particles with their subsequent sedimentation in the bath.