Biomass energy is increasingly used to reduce the dependence on fossil fuels and reduce the impact of greenhouse gas emissions on global warming. Fluidized bed gasification converts solid biomass into gaseous fuels that can be used for combustion or liquid fuels synthesis. The efficiency of biomass gasification is directly affected by the fluidized bed hydrodynamics. For example, the solids recirculation rate through the system is an important parameter that affects the heat and mass transfer rates. In this study, a cold model of a dual fluidized bed (DFB) biomass gasification plant was designed using scaling laws, and was constructed to investigate the hydrodynamics of industrial DFBs. A DFB consists of a bubbling fluidized bed (BFB), where biomass is gasified to produce syngas, and a circulating fluidized bed (CFB) where the residues of gasification are combusted. The investigation was divided into Phase I and II. In Phase I, an operational map was developed for the CFB to define operational boundaries for steady state operation of the plant. An empirical model was developed to predict the solids mass flow rate out of the CFB riser, which is an empirical function of the exit opening width, the CFB diameter, and a newly introduced aerodynamic factor. The correlation coefficient, R2 for the empirical function was 0.8327. The aerodynamic factor accounts for the particle inertia and clustering effects at the exit of the CFB riser. Results from Phase I also showed that increasing the fluidizing velocities increased the solids circulation rate and affected the pressure drop over various points in the CFB plant due to redistribution of solids with the system. A critical assessment was performed on published correlations found in the literature to determine how accurately they predicted the hydrodynamics in the CFB riser. By comparing predicted and experimental results, the correlations were found to be inaccurate for the conditions and configuration of the CFB tested in this study. For example, the solids velocity was not accurately predicted by published correlations due to unaccounted particle clustering effects. The main issue with the published correlations was a lack of generality, so that the correlations only applied for predicting fluidizing behaviour in the equipment they were developed in. In Phase II, an operational map was developed for the DFB, which incorporated both the CFB and the BFB. Experiments with a binary mixture representing sand and char in an industrial gasifier showed a blocking effect in the connecting chute between the CFB and BFB by the material representing char, which was larger and less dense than the material representing sand. A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) based design tool for modelling the cold model CFB cyclone was developed and validated by comparing the predicted and experimental cyclone pressure drop. The correlation coefficient for the CFD pressure drop prediction was 0.7755. The design tool contained information about the grid resolution and the time step required for modelling the cyclone accurately.

In this work cold model experiments in combination with Comsol modeling have been carried out to investigate the possibilities of a new method for industrial inline measurements of slag viscosities. The method aims at measuring the mass of the drag force as a sphere is dragged upwards in a liquid. The sphere was connected to a balance that was elevated at constant velocity. The liquids used were silicon oils of two different viscosities; 0.1 Pa*s and 0.5 Pa*s. A computer logged the mass from which the viscosity was calculated. Comsol modeling was used to show approximately at which time the drag force is constant, and to investigate the wall effect. The importance of laminar flow is discussed. The results show that the method is more suitable for liquids of higher viscosities. The reason is that the drag force is one order of magnitude lower than the other forces in the system. Since the drag force is directly proportional to the viscosity, it becomes larger with higher viscosity. The Comsol model shows that the drag force becomes constant in a few seconds from start of the movement. Comsol gives approximately the same values for the drag force as can be calculated by hand. The viscosities calculated from the experimental data are between two and five times too large for the higher viscosity tested, and between two and ten times too large for the lower viscosity tested. There is a wall effect for the two containers used in the experiments that can be seen both experimentally and by Comsol. Further work and development of the model has to be done before this method possibly could work for industrial purposes.

The present thesis was to study non-metallic inclusions during vacuum degassing in ladle treatment. Emphasize was mostly given to liquid CaO-Al2O3 inclusions. A series of industrial experiments were carried out at Uddeholm Tooling AB, Hagfors, Sweden. To gain an insight into the industrial findings, laboratory investigations were also performed. Large number of steel samples were collected and examined. Liquid calcium aluminate inclusions with low SiO2 and high SiO2 were often found with spinel inclusions before vacuum degassing. Laboratory experiments showed that spinel would react with the dissolved Ca in the liquid steel forming calcium aluminate inclusions. This laboratory results agreed with the industrial observation that spinel phase was quite often found in the center of the calcium aluminate phase. After vacuum degassing, most of the inclusions were calcium aluminate liquid inclusions. When dissolved Al level was low, 2 types of liquid calcium aluminate inclusions with considerably different SiO2 contents were found to coexist even at the end of the process. In view of the lack of the thermodynamic data for SiO2 activities in the low silica region, thermodynamic measurements were conducted in the CaO-Al2O3-SiO2-MgO system. The experimental results could reasonably explain the coexistence of the two types of the liquid oxide inclusions. While the total number of inclusions decreased during vacuum degassing, the number of bigger inclusions (>11.3 μm) increased generally in used ladles. This finding was in accordance with the previous studies, wherein, ladle glaze was found to be responsible for the supply of bigger inclusions. The behaviors of several types of inclusions in liquid steel were examined using a laser scanning confocal microscope (LSCM). While alumina inclusions tended to impact on each other, agglomerate and grow very quickly, none of the other types of inclusions, such as spinel and calcium aluminate was observed to agglomerate. The results of LSCM study agreed well with the industrial observation. Examination on a huge number of inclusions did not show any indication of impact and physical growth of the inclusions, except the alumina inclusions. The removal of inclusions around open-eye in a gas-stirred ladle was experimentally studied by a cold model with oil and water. Most of the simulated inclusions were brought up to the oil phase by gas-water plume. Inclusion removal into oil layer took place when the inclusions passed through the sphere-bed of the oil layer around the open-eye. A calculation showed that the contribution of metal-gas plume in inclusion removal was much larger than that of buoyancy mechanism. The results of the industrial experiments revealed that the inclusions distribution strongly depended on stirring condition. When a ladle was stirred by both gas and induction, inclusion removal near slag layer was significant. / QC 20100803

The present study was carried out to investigate the formation and evolution of non-metallic inclusions during ingot casting. Emphasize have been on understanding the types of inclusions formed and developed through the casting process and on the development of already existing inclusions carried over from the ladle during casting. Industrial experiments carried on at Uddeholm Tooling together with laboratory work and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations. Ingots of 5.8 tons have been sampled and the types of inclusions together with their distribution within the ingot have been characterized. Two new types of inclusions have been found. Type C1 is found originated from casting powder and in the size from a few μm to 30 μm. Type C2 is of macro inclusion type sizing up to 70 μm. The presence of C2 inclusions are few but very detrimental for the quality of the steel. Both types, C1 and C2 consist of alumina, indicating that reoxidation is the main reason for their existence. The protecting argon shroud has been studied by the use of a 1:1 scaled 2D model. Both flow pattern and oxygen measurement have been carried out. CFD has also been used as an auxiliary tool. It has been found that the oxygen pickup through argon gas shroud depends mostly on the distance between the ladle and the collar placed on top of runner. Further increase of gas flow rate above 2.5 m3.h-1 had very little effect on the oxygen distribution since both the flushing effect and the entraining effect with respect to oxygen are enhanced by further increase of inert gas flow rate. In the case of dual gas inlet, the flow in the shroud was found much less diffused compared with either vertical or horizontal injection system. The oxygen content in this arrangement was also greatly reduced. Studies of the runner after casting revealed a sparse non-metallic network structure around the periphery of the steel rod remained in the runner. The surface of the refractory had been severely attacked by the mechanical force from the streaming steel. The erosions of the centre stone and the end stone were on the other hand negligible. CFD calculations showed that the flow at those locations is almost stagnant. The surface of the refractory in contact with the steel was found to have an increased content of alumina. The source for the alumina could come from either exchange reaction of dissolved aluminium replaces the silica or reoxidation products origin from oxygen pick up during the transfer from the ladle to the vertical runner. Inclusions were also found entrapped in the steel refractory interface. It was also found that a formation of a liquid slag film as early as possible during casting would increase the possibility to remove inclusions and especially inclusions generated by the casting powder. / QC 20100617

In the steel industry, slag foaming plays a crucial role in many steel processes, given its positive impact on the thermal efficiency of the furnace and its life span. However, excessive foaming causes an overflow in the converter known as “slopping”. Slopping hinders the effectiveness of the processes, especially with the complex and unpredictable foaming rate. This problem occurs mainly in the BOS-processes and after melt tapping to the ladle furnace. The goal of this study is to test and relate a new foaming control system, by blowing a gas (nitrogen or argon) on the surface of the melt to suppress the foam. Firstly, the foaming index of the provided industrial heats for a general LD converter (21 heats) and Outokumpu’s ladle furnace (31 heats) were calculated to find which heat is most likely to slop. Then, a series of experiments were performed to investigate the new foam controlling system’s reliability using a cold model. The results demonstrated that blowing argon instead of nitrogen from the top nozzle suppresses the foam more effectively, which can be attributed to its higher density. Additionally, the optimal argon flow rate required to suppress the foam in worst-case slopping scenarios in the LD converter and the ladle furnace were 874 and 221 m3/min respectively. The provided data further supports the efficacy of this slopping prevention technique, in theoretical and practical aspects. / I stålindustrin spelar slaggskumning en avgörande roll i många stålprocesser, med tanke på dess positiva inverkan på ugnens termiska effektivitet och dess livslängd. Överdriven skumning orsakar emellertid ett överflöde i konvertern som kallas "utkok". Utkok hindrar processernas effektivitet, särskilt med den komplexa och oförutsägbara skumningshastigheten. Detta problem uppstår främst i BOS-processerna och efter tappning till skänkugnen. Målet med denna studie är att testa ett nytt kontrollsystem genom att blåsa en gas (kväve eller argon) på smältytan för att slå sönder skummet. Först beräknades skumindexet för de tillhandahållna industriella chargerna för en allmän LD (21 charger) och Avestas skänk (31 charger) för att hitta vilken charge som har störst risk för utkok. Därefter utfördes en serie experiment för att undersöka det nya skumstyrsystemets tillförlitlighet med hjälp av en kall modell. Resultaten visade att blåsning av argon istället för kväve från det övre munstycket undertrycker skummet mer effektivt, vilket kan hänföras till dess högre densitet. Dessutom var den optimala argonflödeshastigheten som krävdes för att undertrycka skummet i värsta fallet i LD och skänkanläggningen 871 respektive 221 m3/min. De tillhandahållna uppgifterna stöder ytterligare effekten av denna förebyggande teknik, i teoretiska och praktiska aspekter.

In the modern practice, a sustainable development strategy in a domain of wasteutilization is shifting its focus from a general completeness of recycling to a morespecific attention to efficiently utilize elements in the wastes. This is well-illustrated bythe steelmaking slag industries. The major waste product from the steelmaking practiceis slag and its main constituents are: CaO, SiO2, Al2O3, MnO, FeO and so on. The mainfield of application for the steelmaking slags is civil engineering, especially for road andwaterway construction. However, a significant amount of the slag remains in the dumps,damaging the environment as well as requiring a land for secure storage. Efficientrecycling of these materials is of increasing interest worldwide as a result of increasingsustainability in processes with respect to increasing raw material costs and wastereduction.In order to find a practical solution, joint efforts are currently made at the RoyalInstitute of Technology, Sweden and National Metallurgical Academy of Ukraine. Theconcept is based on transformation of non-magnetic wüstite (FeO) to magneticmagnetite (Fe3O4) using an oxidizing atmosphere was proposed.In order to verify the feasibility of the proposed way of slag utilization, experiments onthe ternary CaO-FeO-SiO2 and quaternary CaO-FeO-SiO2-MnO slags systems,accompanied by thermodynamic and kinetic modelling, were performed. The crystalprecipitation during synthetic slag oxidation was observed by Confocal Scanning LaserMicroscopy (CSLM). Precipitated phases were found to be magnetite and manganeseferrite in the spinel form.Obtained magnetite and manganese ferrite can be separated from the slag by magneticseparation.The formation of nanosize manganese ferrite from the CaO-FeO-SiO2-MnO slag systemduring oxidation was investigated. Experiments were conducted in a horizontalresistance furnace in an oxidizing atmosphere (air). The final product was analysed by Xraydiffraction (XRD). The particles size of the manganese ferrite was estimated by theScherrer formula and was found to be of the order of 23-25 nm. In order to get anunderstanding of the magnetic properties of the manganese ferrite recovered from slagtreatment, it was necessary to synthesize a reference compound from pure precursors.The MnFe2O4 nanopowder was synthesized by the oxalate route. The size effects on themagnetic properties of manganese ferrite particles were investigated.IIThe potential way of the magnetite particles separation from liquid slags was investigatedby cold model studies. The experimental technique of mobilising non-conducting,nonmagnetic particles in conducting liquid in crossed electric and magnetic fields wasinvestigated in order to find the way of the particle separation from the liquidsteelmaking slags. The effects of the current density, magnetic field, size and shape ofthe particle on the particle velocity under action of the electromagnetic buoyancy force(EBF) in the electrolyte were analyzed. / QC 20100916