Devices and methods for enhancing burden uniformity in a combination reforming/reducing shaft furnace
AssigneeMidrex Technologies, Inc.
InventorsTravis Wright, Steve Montague
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present invention provides a combination reforming/reducing shaft furnace for the production of direct reduced iron that utilizes one or more burden uniformity enhancers, such as one or more rotating/reciprocating mixing shafts, one or more stationary flow aids, one or more wall structures/variations, one or more agitators, or the like for ensuring that reforming and reducing in the shaft furnace take place evenly across the width of and throughout the depth of the burden in the shaft furnace.
Claims6
A method for providing a combination high pressure reforming/reducing shaft furnace for the production of direct reduced iron, comprising:
- providing a high pressure reforming/reducing shaft furnace operating at 5 atm or greater, wherein an interior portion of the shaft furnace defines a reforming zone and a reducing zone;
- providing one or more burden uniformity enhancing devices disposed within the interior portion of the shaft furnace;
- wherein the one or more burden uniformity enhancing devices are disposed within one or more of the reforming zone and the reducing zone within the interior portion of the shaft furnace, and
- wherein the one or more burden uniformity enhancing devices are operable for churning the burden such that one or more of reforming and reducing take place uniformly throughout the burden.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.