J. Iron Steel Res. Int.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s42243-021-00619-w (0123456789().,-volV)(0123456789().,-volV)

ORIGINAL PAPER

Behavior of liquid passing through deadman: influence of slag/iron

ratio and unburned pulverized coal
Lei Zhang1 • Jian-liang Zhang1,2 • Xiang-yu Hu1 • Zheng-jian Liu1 • Heng-bao Ma1 • Ke-xin Jiao1

Received: 5 August 2020 / Revised: 31 January 2021 / Accepted: 1 February 2021

 China Iron and Steel Research Institute Group 2021

Abstract
The ability of a blast furnace hearth liquid (iron and slag) passing through deadman characterizes the activity of the blast
furnace hearth. To explore the influence of various factors on the static holdup rate of liquid in the process of passing
through the deadman, a physical transport model of liquid passing through the deadman was firstly established. Then, a
self-designed experimental device was used to simulate the process, and the influences of slag/iron ratios (250–450 kg/t)
and unburned coal content (0%–9%) on the static holdup rate were studied. The experimental results indicate that with the
slag/iron ratio increasing, the behavior of liquid passing through the coke packed bed gets much more difficult, and the
static holdup rate increases. As the content of unburned pulverized coal (UPC) increases, the static holdup rate decreases
first and then rises. This is caused by the dual effects of UPC. On the one hand, UPC can promote the carburizing reaction
of unsaturated molten iron, thereby improving the fluidity of molten iron and reducing the static holdup rate. On the other
hand, when the content of UPC rises to a certain level, it will be regarded as a kind of solid particle which will increase the
liquid viscosity, causing an increase in the static holdup rate. Moreover, the liquid and coke will present interfacial
chemical reactions when the liquid flows through the coke packed bed. And the Si-containing iron droplets at the slag–coke
interface, generated by the reaction of SiO2 with C in the coke, can improve the interface wettability by reducing the
interface wetting angle and increase the basicity of slag by consuming SiO2, thus improving the fluidity of the liquid and
reducing the static holdup rate.

Keywords Blast furnace  Hearth  Liquid holdup  Slag/iron ratio  Unburned pulverized coal

1 Introduction
With the improvement of smelting intensity and deterio-
ration of raw materials and fuels, keeping the blast furnace
stable has become an important development direction of
modern blast furnace technology [1–5]. The hearth has
always been called the engine of a blast furnace by the iron
smelting workers [6]. Ensuring the hearth activity is one of
the key factors to realize the stable and smooth blast fur-
nace operation. Therefore, the gas and liquid permeability
& Ke-xin Jiao
jiaokexin_ustb@126.com
1
School of Metallurgical and Ecological Engineering,
University of Science and Technology Beijing,
Beijing 100083, China
2
State Key Laboratory of Advanced Metallurgy, University of
Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, China
of the deadman is very important [7]. Elgin and Weiss [8]
first studied the phenomenon of liquid passing through the
packing bed and proposed the concept of the liquid holdup.
Shulman et al. [9] pointed out that the holdup is divided
into static holdup (Hs) and dynamic holdup (Hd). The static
holdup refers to the amount of slag that stays in the coke
packed bed and therefore cannot drip. Without injecting
gas from the bottom, the static holdup is much larger than
the dynamic holdup, and the static holdup is the main
factor that determines the total holdup [10, 11]. Due to the
limitation of experimental conditions, Ghosh et al. [12]
used cold water model experiments at room temperature to
simulate the process of liquid passing through the coke
packed bed. However, this method cannot simulate the
density difference and wetting phenomenon between blast
furnace liquid and coke; therefore, it cannot predict the
holdup behavior of liquid in the deadman at high temper-
atures. In recent years, researchers [13–16] have explored

123

the behavior of slag and molten iron separately passing
through the coke packed bed under different conditions at
high temperatures. However, the study on the static holdup
rate of liquid through the coke packed bed has not been
carried out.
In this paper, a physical transport model of liquid
passing through coke packed bed is established first, and
the influence of different factors in the model equation on
the static holdup rate of liquid is analyzed. Then, the self-
designed high-temperature experiment device is used to
simulate the dripping process of a blast furnace hearth
liquid through the deadman. By exploring the influence of
different slag/iron ratios and unburned pulverized coal
(UPC) contents on the static holdup rate, the influencing
factors of the liquid passing through the deadman process
and the chemical reaction mechanism of the liquid–coke
interface are investigated. This is also conducive to
grasping the deciding factors for liquid passing through the
deadman and provides a theoretical basis for the blast
furnace hearth activity.
2 Experiment
The slag and molten iron components used in the experi-
ment are based on the actual situation in a blast furnace,
and 100 g of sample with different slag/iron ratios and
different contents of UPC are prepared for the experiment.
The experimental schemes are shown in Table 1, where
experiment Nos. 1–3 correspond to the conditions with the
slag/iron ratio of 250, 350 and 450 kg/t without UPC,
respectively, while experiment Nos. 4–6 correspond to the
conditions with the slag/ratio of 350 kg/t and UPC content
of 3%, 6%, and 9%, respectively. The experiment uses
analytical-grade reagents to prepare synthesizing slag. The
liquid composition used in experiment is shown in Table 2.
It indicates that the molten iron used is unsaturated molten
iron. According to the calculation by FactSage software,
the liquidus temperature of slag is 1434 C. The coke
packed bed uses a coke particle size of 10–12 mm and has
Table 1 Experimental scheme of liquid passing through coke packed
bed (wt.%)
No. Molten iron Slag
1 80.00 20.00
2 74.07 25.93
3 68.97 31.03
4 71.85 25.15
5 69.63 24.37
6 67.41 23.59
123
L. Zhang et al.
Table 2 Composition of experimental liquid (wt.%)
Molten iron Slag
Fe C CaO SiO2 MgO Al2O3
98 2 42 35 8 15
a height of about 25 mm. The analytical results of the
chemical composition of coke and UPC are shown in
Table 3.
The experimental device for liquid passing through coke
packed bed is shown in Fig. 1. Nineteen drain holes are
drilled at the bottom of the graphite crucible to allow liquid
dripping through. The diameter of each drain hole is 5 mm,
and the inner diameter of the crucible is 40 mm. To
investigate the phenomenon that the slag and iron coop-
eratively pass through the coke packed bed under high-
temperature conditions, the slag sample was placed under
the molten iron sample. A thermocouple was inserted
above the sample to ensure that the sample was in a con-
stant temperature zone. During the experiment, the heating
rate was 5 C/min. After being heated to 1500 C, the
sample was kept at a constant temperature for 30 min and
then cooled down to room temperature at a rate of 5 C/
min to complete the experiment. At the same time, a high-
purity (99.999%) argon was introduced as a protective gas
during the experiment. As the temperature rised, the slag
iron softened, melted and dripped through the coke packed
bed into the receiver, and the balance indicator gradually
decreased until stabilized.
After the experiment, the coke packed bed was filled
with a slow-setting epoxy resin. After the resin was
solidified, the crucible was cut out, and an electron
microscope sample was made. The polished samples were
coated with Au and examined using a Quanta 250 envi-
ronmental scanning electron microscope (SEM, JSM-
5610LV, JEOL, Tokyo, Japan) equipped with an energy-
dispersive X-ray spectrometer (EDS) for chemical analysis
and element mapping.
3 Physical transport model of liquid passing
through coke packed bed
UPC
0 According to the statistical results of various economic and
0 technical indicators of a blast furnace and a previous study
0 on the physical properties of the liquid [17], the physical
3
parameters of slag and molten iron in the blast furnace are
6
sorted out, as shown in Table 4. The conversion relation-
ships between superficial velocity (vs) and actual velocity
9
(vA) as well as average particle size of coke in packed bed
Behavior of liquid passing through deadman: influence of slag/iron ratio and unburned…

Table 3 Composition of coke and UPC used in experiment (wt.%)

Material Industrial analysis Elemental analysis
Mad Aad Vad FCad C H O N S

Coke 0 12.74 3.88 83.38 84.15 0.80 0.60 0.15 0.69

UPC 2.12 11.98 7.17 78.73 82.05 3.09 0.62 1.14 1.11
M Moisture; A ash; V volatile; FC fixed carbon; subscript ad air dry basis

v A ds q
Re ¼ ð3Þ
l
where q is the density of the liquid; and l is the viscosity of
the liquid.
It can be calculated that the Reynolds numbers corre-
sponding to the slag and iron in the deadman are 0.0021
and 5.28, respectively. The Reynolds numbers during the
liquid flow are all less than 10. Therefore, the flow state of
the liquid in the deadman is laminar flow. The resistance
coefficient (f) of the fluid under laminar flow conditions is
[18]:
33
f¼ ð4Þ
Re
Because the diameter of the blast furnace hearth is much
larger than the average particle size of coke in the blast
Fig. 1 Schematic diagram of slag passing through coke experimental furnace, the local resistance loss caused by dramatic
device
changes of sidewall shape can be neglected. Therefore, the
total resistance loss is mainly composed of the friction
resistance (DF) caused by the liquid passing through the
(dp) and hydraulic diameter (ds) are shown in Eqs. (1) and
deadman.
(2), respectively.
vs Fstart ¼ Fend þ DF ð5Þ
vA ¼ ð1Þ
e where Fstart and Fend denote the force when the liquid starts
2 e to pass through the coke packed bed and the force when the
ds ¼ dp ð2Þ
31  e liquid ends to pass through the coke packed bed, respec-
tively. By analogizing the tube-bundle theory, the deadman
where e is the coke packed bed voidage.
in the blast furnace is equivalent to a cross section with
According to the actual physical parameters in Table 4,
numerous voids, and Eqs. (1)–(4) are substituted into
the Reynolds number (Re) corresponding to the liquid in
Eq. (6) [18] to obtain the resistance loss along the way
the coke packed bed can be calculated with following
when the liquid passes through the deadman. It is defined
equation.
as the liquid resistance coefficient (F0), which is used to

Table 4 Physical property data of coke packed bed and liquid in blast furnace
Material Superficial velocity/ Actual velocity/ Density/ Viscosity/ Bed Coke Hydraulic
(m s-1) (m s-1) (kg m-3) (Pa s) voidage diameter/m diameter/m

Slag 0.00008 0.00016 2600 0.400

Molten iron 0.00010 0.00020 6600 0.005
Coke packed 0.5 0.03 0.02
bed

123

characterize the ability of liquid to pass through the
deadman, as shown in Eq. (7).
H qv2s H qv2A
DF ¼ f ¼f ð6Þ
ds 2 ds 2e2
lvA Hð1  eÞ2
F0 ¼ DF ¼ 37:125  ¼
u2 D2p e2
ð7Þ
lvs Hð1  eÞ2
37:125 
u2 D2p e3
1 Xn
xi
¼ ð8Þ
Dp d
i¼1 pi
where u, H, dpi and xi denote the shape factor, the height of
the coke packed bed, the average equivalent diameter of
coke and the mass fraction of particles with a diameter of
dpi, respectively.
4 Results and discussion
4.1 Influence of various factors on holdup rate
To quantitatively investigate the effect of different factors
on the holdup rate, the initial value and specific fluctuation
range are set for each factor in Eq. (7), and their level
change is 10%. To simplify the discussion, the height of the
coke packed bed is given as 1 m. For the slag viscosity is
relatively large, the liquid static holdup rate is approxi-
mately equal to the slag static holdup rate in the coke
packed bed. Therefore, the slag viscosity is used instead of
the liquid viscosity. The calculation results are shown in
Table 5.
It can be observed from Table 5 that different factors
have different influence extents on the holdup rate. The
influence extent of each factor is: e [ dpi = u [ l. The
weight ratio of these factors is 3.9:1.7:1.7:1.0. Combining
Eq. (6) with Table 5, the result reveals that when the bed
voidage decreases, the resistance loss of the coke packed
bed increases, and the holdup rate increases. When the
average coke equivalent diameter becomes larger, the
resistance loss of the coke packed bed is reduced, and the
holdup rate is reduced; when the shape factor increases, the
resistance loss of the coke packed bed is reduced, and the
holdup rate decreases. When the viscosity of the liquid
increases, the fluidity of the slag becomes worse, the
resistance loss of the coke packed bed increases, and the
holdup rate increases. The viscosity is affected by factors
such as temperature and compositions. As the liquid tem-
peratures rise, the liquid fluidity becomes better; thus, the
coke packed bed resistance loss is reduced, and the holdup
rate decreases. When the slag/iron ratio increases, the
123
L. Zhang et al.
viscosity of liquid increases, thus increasing the resistance
loss of the coke packed bed, weakening the ability of liquid
passing through the coke packed bed, and increasing the
holdup rate. When the basicity of slag increases, the SiO2
in the slag, the slag polymerization degree and the viscosity
of the liquid decrease [19]; thus, the fluidity of the liquid
becomes better, and the holdup rate decreases.
4.2 Influence of slag/iron ratio on holdup rate
Under different slag/iron ratios conditions, the holdup rate
of liquid passing through the coke packed bed varies with
temperature, as shown in Fig. 2. It reflects the process of
liquid passing through the coke packed bed under different
slag/iron ratios. The dripping liquid mass increases with the
increase in the bed temperature. The liquid is discontinu-
ously passing through the packing bed, so that there are
steps in the dripping curve, but these steps became smaller
with time.
The relation of the holdup rate and the dripping time of
liquid to slag/iron ratio is shown in Fig. 3. The dripping
time is defined as the time from the beginning to the end of
the dripping of the liquid. It indicates that when the slag/
iron ratio increases, the dripping time and the holdup rate
of liquid generally increase; therefore, the ability of liquid
to pass through the coke packed bed decreases. This phe-
nomenon occurs because the viscosity of slag is much
higher than that of molten iron, so that when the slag/iron
ratio increases, the amount of slag in liquid increases, and
the viscosity of liquid increases. It can be observed from
Eq. (6) and Table 5 that the viscosity is directly propor-
tional to the resistance loss of the coke packed bed, and
thus, the amount of slag retained in the coke packed bed
increases. When the slag/iron ratio increases from 250 to
350 kg/t, the holdup rate only increases by 0.6%, while the
holdup rate increases from 11.8% to 33.0% when the slag/
iron ratio increases from 350 to 450 kg/t. These results
indicate that the increase in the holdup rate changes sig-
nificantly when the slag/iron ratio is above 350 kg/t. Thus,
when the slag/iron ratio exceeds a reasonable range, it has a
significant impact on the holdup rate.
According to the experimental results, the relationships
of the start dripping temperature, the end dripping tem-
perature of the liquid and the dripping temperature range to
the slag/iron ratio are shown in Fig. 4. As it can be seen in
Fig. 4, when the slag/iron ratio is between 250 and 450 kg/
t, the start dripping temperature and the end dripping
temperatures both rise first and then fall as the slag/iron
ratio increases, while the dripping temperature range
decreases first and then increases as the slag/iron ratio
increases. This phenomenon indicates that as the slag/iron
ratio increases, the difficulty for liquid to pass through the
coke packed bed increases. As shown in Fig. 4, the
Behavior of liquid passing through deadman: influence of slag/iron ratio and unburned…

Table 5 Comparison of changes in equation influencing factors

Parameter Independent variable Dependent variable
Initial value Final value Initial value Final value Fluctuation range Rate of fluctuation/%

Viscosity/(Pa s) 0.40 0.44 0.2351 0.2586 0.0235 10.00

Diameter/mm 30 33 0.2351 0.1943 0.0408 17.36
Porosity 0.50 0.55 0.2351 0.1431 0.0920 39.14
Shape factor 0.550 0.605 0.2351 0.1943 0.0408 17.36

1520 120
100 250 Start dripping temperature
350 End dripping temperature
450 Dripping temperature range
1480 100
80
Holdup rate/%

1440 80
60

40 1400 60

20 1360 40

250 300 350 400 450

0 Slag/iron ratio/(kg t-1)
1340 1360 1380 1400 1420 1440 1460 1480

Fig. 4 Relation of different temperatures and dripping temperature

ranges to slag/iron ratio
Fig. 2 Relation between temperature and holdup rate with different
slag/iron ratios
4.3 Influence of unburned pulverized coal
on holdup rate
35 1400
Holdup rate
Dripping time The change of static holdup rate with temperature under
30
1200 different UPC content conditions is shown in Fig. 5. This
relation can reflect the process of slag passing through the
25
coke packed bed under different UPC content conditions.
Dripping time/s
Holdup rate/%

1000
The dripping liquid mass increases with the increase in bed
20
temperature.
800 The relation of the holdup rate of the liquid and the
15
dripping time to the content of UPC is shown in Fig. 6.
600
And the temperature relation during the dripping process
10 under different UPC conditions is shown in Fig. 7. These
results indicate that the holdup rate first decreases and then
5 400 rises with the increase in UPC content. This phenomenon
250 300 350 400 450
-1
Slag/iron ratio/(kg t ) reveals that UPC has a dual effect on the liquid. On the one
hand, a small amount of UPC can supplement the carbon
Fig. 3 Relation of dripping time and holdup rate to different slag/iron content in the unsaturated molten iron, which reduces the
ratios
liquidus temperature of the molten iron. Thus, the fluidity
of molten iron is improved to a certain degree. On the other
temperature at which the liquid begins to pass through the
hand, too much UPC acts as high-temperature solid parti-
coke packed bed is above 1350 C, mainly because part of
cles in the coke packed bed and liquid, which can increase
the molten iron in the liquid melts at 1350 C, and the
liquid viscosity and reduce the voidage of the coke packed
molten iron has better fluidity and will preferentially pass
bed. It can be observed from Eqs. (6) and (7) and Table 5
through the coke packed bed.

123
 L. Zhang et al.

120
100 0 Start dripping temperature
3% 1480
End dripping temperature
Dripping temperature range
6%
80 9% 100
Holdup rate/%

1440
60
80

Dripping temp
40
1400
60

20

1360 40
0 3 6 9
0
UPC content/%
1360 1380 1400 1420 1440 1460 1480

Fig. 7 Relation of different temperatures and dripping temperature

Fig. 5 Relation between temperature and holdup rate with different
contents of UPC
that the resistance loss of the coke packed bed is propor-
tional to the viscosity and inversely proportional to the bed
voidage. Too much UPC increases the difficulty for the
liquid to pass through the coke packed bed [20], thereby
increasing the holdup rate.
It can be seen from Fig. 6 that the dripping time of
experiment No. 2 without UPC is lower than that of
experiment No. 4 with 3% UPC, whereas the holdup rate of
experiment No. 2 is higher than that of experiment No. 4.
This phenomenon reveals that when the content of UPC is
within the range of 0%–3%, the unsaturated molten iron
absorbs unburned coal particles, which makes the molten
iron fluidity better. However, the unabsorbed UPC particles
increase the viscosity of liquid and reduce the voidage of
the coke packed bed. It has an obstruction effect on the
liquid, causing the longer dripping time. As the content of
UPC continues to rise, the holdup rate increases and the
ranges to UPC content
dripping time becomes longer. UPC particles greatly hinder
the dripping process of slag and iron. When the UPC
content reaches 9%, the holdup rate reaches the maximum,
whereas the dripping time is shortened, which is caused by
the excessive amount of liquid retained in the coke packed
bed.
Figure 7 shows the temperature relation during the
dripping process under different UPC conditions. It can be
observed from Fig. 7 that as the UPC content increases, the
start dripping temperature and the end dripping tempera-
ture both decrease first and then rise. The dripping tem-
perature range first increases and then decreases as the
UPC content increases. This phenomenon reveals that as
the content of UPC increases, UPC as a solid phase particle
in the coke packed bed hinders the dripping process more
obviously.
4.4 Microscopic analysis of slag–iron–coke
interface

35 To study the influence of the slag–iron–coke interaction in

Holdup rate
Dripping time the coke packed bed on the holdup rate, the changes were
1000
30 assessed at the slag–iron–coke interface by carrying out
SEM–EDS analyses. The microscopic morphology results
25 are shown in Figs. 8–10.
Holdup rate/%

Dripping time/s

800 Figures 8–10 show the micromorphology of the inter-

20 face between liquid and coke. It can be observed that the
macroscopic holdup is mainly composed of slag, and the
15 holdup of molten iron is relatively small. This phenomenon
600
is because, in the liquid, the fluidity of molten iron is much
10 better than that of slag. Liu et al. [21] studied the primary
slag in the dripping zone and found that there are a large
5 400 number of small iron droplets at the slag–coke interface.
0 3 6 9
UPC content/% However, it can be seen from Figs. 8–10 that there is less
enrichment of iron droplets at the slag–iron–coke interface.
Fig. 6 Relations of dripping time and holdup rate to UPC content

123
Behavior of liquid passing through deadman: influence of slag/iron ratio and unburned…
Fig. 8 Microstructure of slag–iron–coke interface for sample No. 1 (slag/iron ratio of 250 kg/t, no UPC)
This is due to the low FeO content in the final slag, which
cannot provide a large amount of FeO to participate in the
reaction to produce a large number of iron droplets.
Although there is not a large amount of iron droplets at the
slag–iron–coke interface, the EDS mappings show that the
Fe content at the slag–iron–coke interface is higher than
that in the slag. The slag and iron are closely combined
with coke, which indicates that the liquid has better wet-
tability with coke. A small amount of Fe and Ca in the coke
is observed in the EDS elemental mappings. This is
because the liquid containing the unsaturated molten iron
and a small amount of slag penetrated into the coke, filled
the coke pores and reacted with the coke, which makes the
contact angle between the slag and coke become smaller
and makes it more difficult for the slag to stay on the
surface of the coke.
It can be observed from Figs. 9 and 10 that iron droplets
exist at the slag–iron–coke interface, and there is a large
amount of Si enrichment in the iron droplets. The forma-
tion mechanism of Si-containing iron droplets is shown in
Fig. 11.
At the slag–coke interface, SiO2 reduction reaction
occurs at around 1400 C following Eqs. (9) and (10) [22].
SiO2 ðs; lÞ þ CðsÞ ¼ SiOðgÞ þ COðgÞ ð9Þ
SiOðgÞ þ 2CðsÞ ¼ SiCðsÞ þ COðgÞ ð10Þ
The overall reaction can be seen as a combination of two
basic reactions:
SiO2 ðs; lÞ þ 3CðsÞ ¼ SiCðsÞ þ 2COðgÞ ð11Þ
The liquid and coke form a slag–iron–coke interface,
and Fe and SiO2 in the liquid as well as C and SiO2 in coke
move to the interface and participate in the reaction, as
shown in Fig. 11a and b. Because of the presence of molten
iron, silicon is transferred to molten iron according to
Eqs. (12) and (13) [22]. SiC disappears at the interface, and
Si-containing iron droplets are produced.
SiOðgÞ þ CðsÞ ¼ ½Si þ COðgÞ ð12Þ
SiO2 ðs; lÞ þ 2CðsÞ ¼ ½Si þ 2COðgÞ ð13Þ
As shown in Table 6, the Si content in the P1 area in
Fig. 10 is lower than that in the P2 area. This is because of
the difference in the concentration of Si in the slag and Si-
containing iron droplets. Si in the Si-containing iron dro-
plets may tend to diffuse into the liquid because of the
concentration gradient, as shown in Fig. 11c. The basicity
of the slag in the P1 area is calculated to be 1.27, which is
123
 L. Zhang et al.

Fig. 9 Microstructure of slag–iron–coke interface for sample No. 4 (slag/iron ratio of 350 kg/t, UPC of 3%)

Fig. 10 Microstructure of slag–iron–coke interface for sample No. 5 (slag/iron ratio of 350 kg/t, UPC of 6%)

higher than that of slag, which also proves that the SiO2 in for Si and C to enter and exit the liquid. George et al. [14]
the liquid can be transferred into the Si-containing iron also found that SiO2 in the slag can participate in the
droplets. Si-containing iron droplets are important carriers reaction to produce Si-containing iron droplets. The

123
Behavior of liquid passing through deadman: influence of slag/iron ratio and unburned…
Fig. 11 Schematic diagram of formation of Si-containing iron droplets
Table 6 EDS results of P1 and P2 areas in sample No. 5 (wt.%)
Element P1
C 6.46
O 35.33
Mg 4.77
Al 8.93
Si 14.88
Ca 29.00
Fe 0.63
decrease in SiO2 content in the slag and the increase in
basicity are beneficial to improve the fluidity of the slag,
thereby reducing the holdup rate.
5 Conclusions
1. According to the physical transport model, the bed
voidage has the most significant effect on the resis-
tance loss of the coke packed bed, and the average
equivalent diameter of coke and coke shape factor
have moderate effects. The liquid viscosity has the
weakest influence. The weight ratio of these factors is
3.9:1.7:1.7:1.0.
2. Because the slag viscosity is much higher than that of
molten iron in the liquid, as the slag/iron ratio
(250–450 kg/t) increases, the viscosity of the liquid
increases, and the static holdup rate increases. When
the slag/iron ratio exceeds a reasonable range, its effect
on the holdup rate sharply increases.
3. As UPC content (0%–9%) increases, the static holdup
rate has a minimum value of 8.6% when UPC content
is about 6%. This is because UPC plays a dual role in
the liquid. UPC can supplement the carbon content in
the unsaturated molten iron and lower the liquidus
temperature of the molten iron, thus improving the
fluidity of the molten iron. However, UPC can also act
as high-temperature solid particles, which increase the
viscosity of the fluid and reduce the voidage of the
coke packed bed. As a result, the fluidity of the liquid
becomes worse and the holdup rate increases.
P2 4. The liquid can penetrate into the coke and react with it.
6.25 The Si-containing iron droplets at the slag–iron–coke
0.80 interface formed by the reaction of SiO2 and C in the
0
coke can improve the wettability of the slag–iron–coke
0.14
interface by reducing the interface wetting angle and
increase the basicity of slag by consuming SiO2, thus
15.52
improving the fluidity of the liquid and reducing the
0.48
static holdup rate.
76.82
Acknowledgements This work was financially supported by the
National Natural Science Foundation of China (51704019) and the
Young Elite Scientists Sponsorship Program by CAST
(2018QNRC001).
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