A Method of Activating the Deadman Region in Blast Furnace During Operation

Dongjo Lee 1, Tae-Hwa Choi 2, Sang-Ho Yi 3

1
Technical Research Laboratories, POSCO
1, Geodong-dong, Nam-gu, Gyeongbuk, South Korea, 790-300
Phone:82-10-9388-5922
Email:djlee5922@posco.com
2
Technical Research Laboratories, POSCO
1, Geodong-dong, Nam-gu, Gyeongbuk, South Korea, 790-300
Phone:82-10-8638-0691
Email:choith@posco.com
3
Technical Research Laboratories, POSCO
1, Geodong-dong, Nam-gu, Gyeongbuk, South Korea, 790-300
Phone:82-10-6363-7813
Email:yish@posco.com

Keywords: Permeability, Deadman, Bird’s Nest, Oxygen Capsule, PCI(Pulverized Coal Injection), Unburnt Carbon

ABSTRACT

Deposition of excessive amount of fine particle in the lower part of blast furnace decreases the permeability in a lower part of
the blast furnace. The permeability of Deadman in the lower part of blast furnace more severe with injection of pulverized
coal into blast furnace to reduce pig iron cost. The coal is not burnt completely in the raceway, it is blown away from the
active or physical raceway to the next relatively compact zone called “Bird’s Nest”. This accumulation region builds up
between the raceway and the Deadman and tends to be thicker with increasing PCI(Pulverized Coal Injection) rates. To
destroy the Bird’s Nest, in this study, A new method was developed. The “Oxygen Capsule” is adopted to enrich the oxygen
mole fraction partially for elliminating the unburnt carbon. The capsule which contained the liquid phase oxygen is injected
by compressed air into the deadman through a PCI lance during operation and then is bursted up by hot temperature of
surroundings on Bird nest. The carried oxygen gas combusts the unburnt carbon and fine coke and then the combustion raise
up temperature of Bird’s Nest. Finally, the Bird’s Nest is swept down. To confirm and to evaluate the effects of the method,
experimental tests and direct test on blast furnace have been conducted. The results show that gas permeability was
improved and the balance of blast furnce was restriked when the deadman was contaminated with fine coke or char.

INTRODUCTION

The deadman is the packed coke bed in the lower zone of the ironmaking blast furnace that received coke for the very long
residence times within this region. Over time the operating blast furnace, amount of fine coke in the lower part of blast
furnace increases. And the deposition of excessive amount of fine coke in the lower part of blast furnace decreases the
permeability in a lower part of the blast furnace(Omori, 1987). Furthermore, the permeability of deadman in the lower part
of blast furnace more severe with injection of pulverized coal into blast furnace through the tuyere in order to enhance the
productivity of iron and reduce fuel costs due to decreasing coke dependence. As the high PCI(Pulverized Coal Injection)
rate operation, the injected a large amount of coal, the coal combustibility will be reduced and the injected pulverized coal is
not burnt completely in the raceway because resident time of pulverized coal is extremely short in the raceway comparing
with burn-out time of pulverized coal. And the unburnt coal may accumulate in the boundary of raceway, affecting the coke
bed permeability and thereby the furnace stability(Xu et al., 2000). As a result, If the coal is not completely burnt in the
raeway, it is blown away from the physical raceway to the next relatively compact zone called the Bird’s Nest along with
circling coke particles. As shown in Figure 1, The Bird’s Nest is like a shell between the raceway and the deadman. It has

AISTech 2014 Proceedings. © 2014 by AIST. 475

been established that the fine coke accumulation area in front of tuyere, tends to be thicker with increasing PCI rates(Nogami,
2004). The Bird’s Nest may lead to some inactivity of the deadman, restraining the tuyere gas penetration into the central
area and encouraging peripheral gas flow.
In addition, as the inner volume of blast furnace increases, the active area(activating zone due to gas penetration depth devide
by total horizontal section area) decreases at tuyere level in Figure 2. It is generally known that increasing the pulverised
coal injection ratio brought about less central gas flow, as indicated by the increase in the ore/coke ratio and fine powder
accumulation on the deadman surface and the decrease in the raceway depth. When the central gas flow decreases, the
cohesive zone tends to become W shaped and the heat loss at the bosh tends to increase. Increase of heat losses with PCI is
often a concern from the point of view of the increased gas flow at the walls. Generally, In order to operate a blast furnace
stably and economically, it is important to form an inverse-V shaped, cohesive zone in the high temperature region, by
intensifying the gas flow at the center of the furnace. With high PCI, the position and shape of the cohesive zone drop along
the walls and become thicker. This leads to increase of heat-loss at the furnace wall and disturbs the descending of burden
materials, deteriorating the furnace wall. Also, lower part of blast furnaces; deadman which permeabilities for gas and liquid
affect the performance and life time of the furnaces significantly. At the lower part of furnace, if molten pig iron is held due
to low liquid permeability at the center of deadman coke develops annular flow of the hot melt which leads the erosion of the
refractory and shorten the life of the furnace as shown in Figure3.
To summarize, Bird’s Nest is the region beyond the raceway along the tuyere axis, where the unburnt char and coke particles
accumulate. This region becomes nearly impermeable and prevents the coal and gas to flow into the deadman, thus disrupts
the distributions of the gas and heat from the raceway to the surrounding coke bed. And when the Inner volume of blast
furnace increases, the active area decreases at tuyere level. This trend more severe due to Bird’s Nest.
As shown in Figure 4, the amount of coke fines, unburnt coal and iron/slag; significant different layer was measured by
inserting a probe into the furnace and sampling the coke at the shutdown. From the probing results acquired then, it can be
seen that quite a big dispersion is found in the amount of coke fines. This thick deposition of fine particles in front of
raceway interrupt that the hot gas penetrates into the center of blast furnace. So the permeability in front of raceway has a
direct impact on gas and liquid passage through the lower zone of the furnace.

(a)Calculation (b) Expreiment

Figure 1. Shape of Reaceway Shell (Bird’s Nest) Ref: Nogami(2004)

476 AISTech 2014 Proceedings. © 2014 by AIST.

 Figure 2. Variation of raceway depth with various inner voulme of blast furnace

For these reason, recently, the Bird’s Nest structure in the lower part of the furnace consisting the fine cokes, pulverized coal
particles and molten droplets have been studied with direct measurement of the deadman state using tuyere probe sampling
during repair period of blast furnace.( Matsumura et al., 1993, Nakayama et al., 1993). Also, several suggested methods of
the cleaning of deadman have been tested.(Ichida et al., 1994, Kunitomo et al., 2002) These methods for controlling
temperature and improving gas permeability, are the “insert and blowing method”, a pipe is inserted into the deadman
through a tuyere and then hot gas is blown through the pipe and the “boring and blowing method”, a coke bed in a lower part
of the furnace is bored using a pipe before hot gas is blown through an ordinary tuyere. Accoring to Kunitomo et al., the gas
permeability was improved and the temperature in the lower part of the models was increased. The effectiveness of these
methods was increased by adding water vapor to the blowing air when the surface of the deadman was covered with fine coke
or char. However, in this method, the blast furnace must have shutted down for the elimination the Bird’s Nest in the
deadman.
To establish a long-term stable operation of blast furnace with high iron productivity at a high pulverized coal rate, it is
necessary to elliminate the Bird’s Nest in the lower part of the blast furnace. In this study, a new method was developed that
is relatively simple and direct action for the deadman and tested on a deadman cleaning method as a technique for improving
the state of the blast-furnace deadman. The “Oxygen Capsule” is adopted to enrich the oxygen mole fraction partially for
elliminating the unburnt carbon. The capsule which contained the liquid phase oxygen is injected by compressed air into the
deadman through a PCI lance during operation and then is bursted up by hot temperature of surroundings on Bird’s Nest.
The carried oxygen gas combusts the unburnt carbon and fine coke and then the combustion raise up temperature of Bird’s
Nest. Finally, the Bird’s Nest is swept down. To confirm and to evaluate the effects of the method, experimental tests and
direct test on blast furnace have been conducted. The results show that gas permeability was improved and the balance of
blast furnce was restriked when the deadman was contaminated with fine coke or char.

AISTech 2014 Proceedings. © 2014 by AIST. 477

 Figure 3. Variation of inside of BF with Raceway shape change

Figure 4. Photos of tuyere probe sampling and position of fine particle layer infront of raceway

478 AISTech 2014 Proceedings. © 2014 by AIST.

 EXPERIMENTAL SETUP

Basic principle
Figure 5 shows a schematic of the system and accumulation of coke/coal fines in the area behind the raceway. As mentioned
before, the contaminated zone becomes more impermeable as the pulverized coal injection(PCI) rates increase. As
insufficiently penetrate the hot blast into the deadman, the temperature level of the deadman decreases severely and then the
viscosity of the melt increases, finally densely packed coke layer decrease liquid permeability. The accumulation of fines
decrease gas and liquid permeability and lowers the temperature level. Based on the above composition of the Bird’s Nest, it
may be possible to remove fines and raise the temperature level by supplying a oxygen into the deadman. A new method was
proposed to remove the unwanted compact zone by the use of ‘Oxygen Capsules.’ Capsules containing liquified oxygen are
injected to the Bird’s Nest through PCI lances and then bursted as they are overheated. The injected capsule is bursted due to
phase transition from liquid to gas with hot temperature of surroundings and gasified oxygen is released and combusted with
the coke/coal fines in the accumulation region. Consequently, the released heat and the consumption of the fines sweeps
down the Bird’s Nest. On-site tests were successfully performed with number 3 blast furnace in Gwangyang, South Korea.

Figure 5. Experimental appartus of Breaking Accumulated layer in Raceway during operation

Figure 6. Experimental appartus of Breaking Accumulated layer in Raceway during operation

AISTech 2014 Proceedings. © 2014 by AIST. 479

Experimental apparatus
Figure 6 shows a schematic diagram of the injection system consisting of three parts: a compressor, a shooter and PC supply
controller. The dimensions of oxygen capsule are 210 mm in length and 20 mm in diameter. The compressor increases the
air pressure up to 120 bar for sufficient injection speed of oxygen capsule. The PC injection is paused during the experiments
for a while. The capsule is containing the 30 cc liquified oxygen. The shooter hold a oxygen capsule until a pressure of 120
bar and then suddenly release the capsule into the Raceway through PCI lance. The injected oxygen capsule penetrate into the
Bird’s Nest through the coke bed which is mainly composed of carbon and then burst as they are overheated. In the cold test,
the injected oxygen capsule penetrate into cokebed about 40 cm. The volume of oxygen expand about 80 times due to phase
transition inside the Bird’s Nest and the passage of hot blast is allowed. Further, the released oxygen from the capsule
combust with unburnt carbon inside the Bird’s Nest. Becuase of increasing the temperature inside the Bird’s Nest due to the
combustion phenomena, the high melting point slag are melt down and sweeps the fines out. Consequently, the gas
permeability was increased and the temperature in the lower part of BF was increased: the deadman region is activated.

RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS

Results
The injection test was conducted in two cases: one with single tuyere used and the other with multiple tuyeres used. In the
former case, the oxygen capsule was injected three times toward Bird’s Nest through single PCI lance for evaluating the
relationship gas permeability and Bird’s Nest, whereas in the latter case, the oxygen capsule was injected to the multiple
tuyere which have relatively low flow rate of blast for attempting to rebuild the balance of blast furnace.
To confirm and to evaluate the effects of breaking the accumulated layer in Raceway using oxygen capsules, Several on-site
tests have been conducted with number 3 blast furnace in Gwangyang, South Korea. The inner volume of the number 3 blast
furnace in Gwangyang Works. The inner volume of blast furnace is 4,600m3 that has a hearth diameter of 14.3m and 40
tuyeres. The first ‘Oxygen Capsule’ injection test was conducted by using single PCI lance connected to the number 5
tuyere of the number 3 blast furnace in Gwangyang Works. Before the capsule injection test, the PC injection is paused
during the experiments for a while. Also the deadman activating method, oxygen capsule injection, was tested and evaluated
by multiple injection capsule into several tuyere simultaneously. It is necessary to carry out measurement before capsule
injection and measurement were carried out after capsule injection for evaluating the sufficient effect that all the flow rate of
blow pipe in the furnace was changed or the distribution of activating zone had become more symmetry.
The averged flow rate of blow pipe is 150Nm3/min. However, for the injection test, as the PC injection is paused, the
averged flow rate of blow pipe increses up to 180Nm3/min due to decreasing combustion pressure of PC combustion in front
of tuyere. Also in the multiple tuyere oxygen capsule test, changes in the the flow rate of blow pipe were measured before
and after capsule injection test.
In the case of using single tuyere, as shown in Figure 7, the flow rate of hot air at blow pipe which applied oxygen capsule
significantly increases 10~15Nm3/min and keep the increasing flow rate at the number 5 tuyere. However number 6 tuyere
dose not change the flow rate of hot blast. The results showed that the permeability in front of raceway was improved.
According to this result, it seems that the injected oxygen capsule is possible to elliminate the Bird’s Nest sufficently.
As mentioned before, because of the heavy contaminated zone by fine cokes and unburnt PC the hot blast insufficiently
penetrate into the deadman. Above composition of the Bird’s Nest, it may be possible to remove fines and raise the
temperature level by supplying a oxygen into the deadman. Using new method, it is possible to supply the oxygen and to
convey an impact just where it is needed. Finally, the released heat and the consumption of the fines sweeps down the Bird’s
Nest.
Figures 8 shows the radial distributions of the hot blast flow rate at the blow pipe during blast furnace operation. The
multiple tuyere injection test was conducted. In this test, the oxygen capsule was injected to the number 20, 22 and 25 tuyere
of the number 3 blast furnace in Gwangyang Works. The blast volume of the number 20, 22 and 25 tuyere were relatively
low, as shown in Figure 8. In the case of the multiple oxygen capsule injection, the blast volume of the number 20, 22 and 25
tuyere increase significantly comparing other tuyere. The results showed that the permeability in front of raceway was
improved and its uniformity was rebuilt along the circumferential area inside the blast furnace in Figure 8. The flow rate of
hot blast changes and the activating region in the circumferential direction spreads and increases. This result suggests that it
is necessary to increase the number of tuyere adopted injection oxygen capsule when the balance of circumferential direction
inside of blast furnace is broken by the contamination of deadman, especially Bird’s Nest.

480 AISTech 2014 Proceedings. © 2014 by AIST.

 Figure 7. The effect of Breaking the Accumulated layer in Raceway

Figure 8. The effect of Breaking the Accumulated layer in Raceway

CONCLUSIONS

The oxygen capsule injection test was conducted in number 3 blast furnace in Gwangyang, South Korea to confirm and
evaluate the effects of breaking the accumulated layer in of the blast furnace deadman; insufficient gas permeability and low
deadman temperature due to a rise in the fines ratio before the tuyeres.. Through single tuyere test result, tuyere the flow rate
of hot air at blow pipe which applied oxygen capsule significantly increases and keep the increasing flow rate. It seems that
the injected oxygen capsule is possible to elliminate the Bird’s Nest sufficently. And in multiple tuyere test results, the
relatively low blast volume of the tuyere increase significantly comparing other tuyere by injection oxygen capsule. It
showed that the permeability in front of raceway was improved and its uniformity was rebuilt along the circumferential area
inside the blast furnace. This result suggests that it is necessary to increase the number of tuyere adopted injection oxygen
capsule when the balance of circumferential direction inside of blast furnace is broken by the contamination of deadman,
especially Bird’s Nest, the oxygen capsule injection was proceeded for every tuyere which has the relatively low blast
volume.

AISTech 2014 Proceedings. © 2014 by AIST. 481

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