Indirect reduction in blast-furnace smelting

The influence of the intensity of blast-furnace smelting on the effectiveness of the indirect reduction of iron from wustite is considered on the basis of the Rist model, for specially prepared batch and coke of satisfactory quality. In the case of practically stable and effective reduction, broad variation in the smelting intensity in terms of oxygen is associated with acceleration of the indirect reduction, on account of increase in the concentration of reducing agents in the gas, increase in their consumption, and increase in the gas–batch contact surface. These results do not confirm the finding from the 1950s and 1960s that the dependence of the productivity and coke consumption on the smelting intensity is extremal. © 2016, Allerton Press, Inc.