Novotroitsk branch of NUST “MISIS”, Novotroitsk, Russia
A. N. Shapovalov, Cand. Eng., Associate Prof., Dept. of Metallurgical Technologies and Equipment, Deputy Director of the Branch for Science and Innovations

Novotroitsk branch of NUST “MISIS”, Novotroitsk, Russia¹ ; Nosov Magnitogorsk State Technical University, Magnitogorsk, Russia² ; Kherson State University, Genichesk, Russia³

R. R. Dema, Dr. Eng., Associate Prof., Dept. of Machines and Technologies for Metal Forming and Mechanical Engineering², Prof., Dept. of Metallurgical Technologies and Equipment¹, Prof., Dept. of Mechanical Engineering³, e-mail: demarr78@mail.ru

R. N. Amirov, Cand. Eng., Associate Prof., Dept. of Machines and Technologies for Metal Forming and Mechanical Engineering², Associate Prof., Dept. of Metallurgical Technologies and Equipment¹, Associate Prof., Dept. of Mechanical Engineering³

Nosov Magnitogorsk State Technical University, Magnitogorsk, Russia¹ ; Kherson State University, Genichesk, Russia²

O. R. Latypov, Cand. Eng., Associate Prof., Dept. of Machines and Technologies for Metal Forming and Mechanical Engineering¹, Associate Prof., Dept. of Mechanical Engineering²

The results of laboratory experiments on the study of the effect of steam injection into the sintered charge layer on the sintering process parameters, the quality of the sinter and the composition of the exhaust gases during the sintering of iron ore materials of the Kursk Magnetic Anomaly are presented. It was found that the introduction of steam at a temperature of 200 °C into the sintered batch layer in the studied flow rate range (1.5-4.5 nm3/t of batch) increases the vertical sintering rate, specific productivity and cold strength of the agglomerate in comparison with the base conditions. With an increase in steam consumption during sintering of the “cold” batch, the sintering and agglomerate quality indices change along a curve with an extremum, reaching their maximum with steam injection in the middle of the sintering process for 5 minutes with a specific flow rate of 3.0 nm3/t of batch. In this case, the content of CO and NO_x in the exhaust gases decreases proportionally to the increase in the flow rate of water vapor into the batch. The obtained results are due to the influence of steam on the kinetics of fuel combustion, thermal conditions of sintering and the heating rate of the batch. A decrease in the efficiency of steam use with an increase in its consumption during sintering of a “cold” batch is associated with an increase in the humidity of the batch in the over-moistening zone, a decrease in the structural strength of the layer and a deterioration in its gas permeability. Therefore, full use of the potential of steam injection into the sintered batch layer is possible only during sintering of a preheated batch (with a temperature of more than 60 °C). Under these conditions, the formation of an over-moistening zone is prevented, which removes restrictions on the consumption of injected steam. The results of laboratory sintering of agglomeration batch preheated to 70-80 °C with the supply of water vapor into the layer at a flow rate of 1.08 nm³/hour starting from the 10^th minute from the start of sintering while maintaining the steam temperature at 200 °C confirmed the high efficiency of combining agglomeration technology with preheating of the batch and the introduction of water vapor into the layer.
The work was carried out with the financial support of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation (project No. FZRU-2023-0008).

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