Identification of controlling parameters for operational improvements in coal

gasification based DRI plant: An Introductory Approach

Amiy Srivastava1, Sumit Bansal1, Sandeep Kumar1, Sabyasachi Bandyopadhyay2

1. Best Practices technology group, JSPL

2. ED & CTO, Group Steel Business, JSPL

Abstract
The idea of using Synthesis-gas (syn gas) obtained from coal gasification process in producing DRI is
unique in the world. This leads to the utilization of high ash coal abundantly available in India.
Dependence on coking coal for producing Iron is reduced in this process. Conventional DRI process
generally uses natural gas as reducing agent for producing DRI, however access to natural gas for running
gas based DRI is limited at most of the sites in India. The use of synthesis gas (syn-gas) in place of
natural gas solves the problem of producing DRI where natural gas is unavailable. Syn-gas based DRI is
slightly different process from conventional natural gas based DRI in terms of handling syn-gas as a
reducing agent. The paper explains the difference in the overall process of producing gas based DRI when
using syn-gas in brief. Syn-gas based DRI at JSPL Angul is completing almost three years of operation
commissioning. The experience of plant operation is also discussed in this paper. In order to understand
the DRI-Shaft furnace performance collectively, effective use of reducing gas was analyzed using a
calculation of Gas Utilization. Theoretical calculation was matched with the gas balance data sheets of
different DRI modules. Quality of input pellet was also analyzed for the Syn-gas based DRI process and
the reason for the requirement of stringent pellet quality for such process is discussed briefly. Some
description of the prerequisites for selecting heater tube material is also given in the paper. On the basis of
above mentioned studies, certain controlling variables out of all operational parameter are emphasized.

Keywords:

Coal Gasification Plant, Syn-Gas Based DRI, Pellet quality, Gas Utilization, high temperature
resistance materials

Introduction:

Coal gasification Plant:

The aim of the selection of coal gasification process is to mitigate the dependency of coking coal for
producing Iron which is not abundantly available in India and to utilize the easily available high ash coal
in India. The DRI facility linked with this coal gasification plant is capable of producing more than 5000
tons per day on an average with the available gas flow per day from coal gasification plant. Syn-Gas
based DRI is linked with SMS which can produce 250 tonnes of steel per heat and per day production can
be more than 21 heats with 80% Hot DRI. On the other hand, the need of fuel for different reheating
furnaces, Ladle heating Burners, tundish preheating burners etc. is fulfilled by this syn gas.

Coal gasification process is based on the fundamental principle of partial combustion of coal. The gas
which comes out after partial combustion is called raw syn gas which is purified in further processing at
CGP. Full combustion of coal will not produce the combination of CO and H2 which is mainly desired as
Syn-gas to use further as fuel and reducing gas. Proper bed permeability is a must in order to avoid any
channeling throughout the gasifier. In view point of safety, many interlocks are given which work on the
basis of temperature. If the temperature goes high, gasifier gets tripped. Hence coal quality and %
allowable coal fines have to be taken care while feeding coal into the gasifier. The problem of gasifier trip
was prevalent in the initial days of plant running. Option of blending of different types of coal was chosen
by CGP plant in order to get the optimized coal feed in terms of size, ash fusion temperature, fixed carbon
etc. to overcome the problem of tripping. Severe Thermal fragmentation of coal may also affect the
smooth running of the coal gasifier. Gasifier tripping issues were resolved and approximately more than
165000 Nm3/hr was produced at CGP Plant. Syn gas is used in different processing units and major part
of the gas is supplied to gas based DRI plant as reducing agent and also as fuel into the burners situated in
DRI heater. The typical composition of Synthesis gas from coal gasification plant is as follows:

Gas CO CO2 H2 H20 CH4 N2 O2 C2H6 C3H8 H2S

Vol.% 32 3 52 0.00 12 0.44 0.00 0.25 0.00 20 ppm

Syn-gas contains very high volume percentage of reducing agents like CO and H2. Some volume of
methane is also present in the gas. Hence use of this gas is possible in MIDREX shaft furnace with
required modifications. Syn-Gas can be made using high ash coal available abundantly in India.

Syn-Gas Based DRI:

Gas Based DRI process is undoubtedly beneficial in terms of quality, cost of production and capital
expenditure (compared to setting up a Blast Furnace) incurred in producing Iron. For producing Gas
based DRI, natural gas is used conventionally. However access to the natural gas at most of the sites is
difficult hence use of alternative reducing agent for producing gas based DRI had been started.

Comparison of components of NG-Based DRI and SYN-Gas Based DRI

Function Natural Gas based-DRI Syn Gas based-DRI

Input Gas Natural Gas Syn-Gas
Systems Reformer CO2 removal unit + Heater
Generation of By mixing the Natural Gas with recycled After CO2 removal, Heating of mixture of
Reducing Gas top gas and reforming it in reformer in Top Gas and Syn-gas in Heaters(No
presence of Ni catalyst. reforming)
Bustle Gas 830oC to 980 oC 1000oC to 1050 oC
Temperature
Start up time Slower due to Reforming Reaction Faster no outside reforming is required
CO2 Removal Not required in this process Removal of CO2 from Top Gas in CO2
System Removal System

Syn-gas based DRI plant at Jindal Steel & Power Ltd. Angul, Odisha is designed to produce maximum
225 ton/hr. The annual capacity of DRI plant is 1.8 MTPA. Reduction Furnace internal diameter is 7.15
meters and total height (from ground to charge hopper top) of reduction Furnace is 125 Meters. DRI
vertical Shaft furnace produces both hot DRI as well cold DRI. Hot DRI discharged at around 700oC, is
fed to the Hot DRI storage bin located at steel melting shop through a specially designed hot DRI
conveyor and cold DRI passes through product cooler where it’s temperature is brought down to 40-50 oC
and stored finally into total four storage bins from where SMS can easily withdraw cold DRI. The
advantage of using hot DRI can be seen during steel melting in terms of less power consumption. The
reactions occur are as follows:

Reactions in DRI- Shaft Furnace

Fig.1 Reduction reaction of Iron with H2 & CO

It can be seen from above reactions that the overall reduction by CO is exothermic and overall reduction
by Hydrogen is Endothermic. Each of these reactions is reversible and in order to proceed in the reducing
state, the ratio of reductant to oxidant must be greater than the equilibrium [1] value. The degree of
metallization is a function of ratio H2:CO. H2 is better reducer than CO and hence a higher H2:CO gives
higher metallization [7]. At the optimum H2/CO ratio of 1.5 to 1.6, the exothermic heat of reaction with
CO is balanced by the endothermic heat of reaction from reduction with H2. The typical composition of
Bustle gas is as follows:

CO CO2 H2 H2O CH4 N2 C2H6 C3H8 H2S

26% 3% 55% 5% 7% 2.5% 0.10% 0% 35 ppm

When the temperature of the bed increases to a point where the individual pellets and lumps begin to fuse
together clustering or sticking occurs inside the furnace. So bustle gas temperature is dictated solely by
the maximum temperature which the specific oxide feed tolerate without sticking. In case of syn-gas
based DRI, H2/CO ratio of bustle gas is 2.13. Hence endothermic input is more in this syn-gas based
DRI. In order to overcome the energy deficiency due to endothermic reaction occurred in DRI shaft
furnace, Bustle gas temperature has to be maintained. The requirement of high temperature of bustle gas
is stringent for maintaining the bed temperature. Maintaining the minimum bed temperature is mandatory
for achieving higher metallization values in DRI [6].
Description of Gas Flow in Syn- Gas Based DRI:

The detailed process flow diagram is as follows:

Fig.2 Gas Flow in syn-gas based DRI [2]

The main components of Syn-gas based DRI are listed as follows:

1. MIDREX Vertical Shaft Furnace

2. Heater
3. CO2 Removal System
4. Product Cooler
5. Turbo Expander

Top gas from DRI shaft furnace is scrubbed, cleaned and passed through CO2 removal unit in order to
remove CO2 from 16-17% to 3-4%. About 15% of Top gas after scrubber goes to burners as top gas fuel
for combustion and rest of the part goes to CO2 removal system. Lean process gas (also called process gas
after CO2 removal) after passing through CO2 removal system, is mixed with fresh syn-gas in feed gas
mixer (then gas is a called feed gas) and passed through feed gas saturator and feed gas eliminator. H 2S
injection is also done into the feed gas for avoiding metal dusting of heater tubes. Feed gas sent to the
heater for attaining required reducing gas temperature of 930oC (Gas, coming out from heater, is called
reducing gas). Further increase in temperature is achieved by injecting Oxygen into the reducing gas (then
gas is called Bustle gas). Fresh Syn gas is also passed through the heater to increase its temperature up to
150oC for using it in Turbo Expander which produces up to 10 MW power.
Input Feed Material Quality for Syn Gas Based DRI

Input material in DRI shaft furnace is mainly DR- Grade Pellets and sometimes calibrated lump ore with
certain percentage in the feed mix. It was observed with use of CLO and pellets made of Odisha ore in
feed mix that %fine generation (-5 mm) was increased beyond 10% which leads to generate hot fines
inside the product cooler. Hence use of CLO is advisable only with good quality pellets. The meaning of
good quality is explained further in this note. The quality of pellets is monitored closely in order to
operate DRI shaft furnace smoothly when syn gas is used as reducing gas.

The distribution of cold compression strength is important to look at in order to control the amount of
fines feeding into the shaft furnace. It is evident that wide distribution of CCS does not support the
smooth operation of DRI shaft furnace hence the CCS distribution curve was closely monitored and
intimated to DR plant as well as pellet plant of Angul and Barbil, Odisha respectively. Apart from this,
the identification of percentage of unfired pellet is also important because those get thermally fragmented
very easily while entering into the furnace. It is also evident that Blain index for the iron ore available in
Odisha is more than 3200 gm/cm2 which indicates that Odisha’s iron ore is softer than the iron ore found
in Karnataka. Hence CCS of DR grade pellets comes less than 260 kg/pellet with standard rate of pellet
production for achieving complete baking. Temperature of bustle gas also plays an important role in
thermal fragmentation. The effect of temperature on fine generation is still under investigation; however
people have carried out some Linder test at different temperature because in syn-gas based DRI, the
bustle gas temperature is higher than the conventional Natural gas based DRI. Porosity is an important
factor to look into in order to achieve good reduction capability in less residence time and gas utilization
also increases with the pellets having porosity more than 25%. The %metallization also increases with
optimized porosity values keeping the CCS values more than 270 kg/pellet. 100% use of in house
developed pellets at Barbil facility has been achieved successfully in Syn-Gas Based DRI at JSPL, Angul.
Use of imported pellets from gulf countries has been replaced completely and cost of raw material was
reduced drastically for making DRI. Gangue content (%SiO2 + %Al2O3) in pellets plays an important role
in the process of steel making. By ore beneficiation process before pelletization, gangue content can be
reduced to 2-3 % from 7-8% which leads to reduce in energy input at every processing unit like DRI and
SMS. It will also increase the metallic content and reduce the fine generation during transportation and
thermal fragmentation inside the DRI shaft furnace. The selection of process for making DR grade pellets
is also critical because it has been proved that rotary kiln process for pellet making gives better CCS with
high productivity than the conventional process using straight grate.

Importance of Reducing Gas heating for Syn-gas based DRI

As already mentioned, the composition of Syn-gas contains high H2 content than the content of CO. The
reduction using such gas carryout endothermic reactions inside the shaft furnace which leads to reduce the
average bed temperature. Reducing Gas temperature has to be such that it should maintain the minimum
bed temperature more than 800°C in the shaft furnace. Apart from H2, the content of CH4 also carries
endothermic reactions inside the shaft furnace while converting into H2 and CO. Hence for maintaining
the minimum bed temperature and overcoming of the heat deficiency created by endothermic reactions,
reducing gas is heated up in DRI heater and to increase the temperature further Oxygen is injected into the
reducing gas. The raise of approximately 100oC can be achieved using Oxygen injection. After the
oxygen injection, reducing gas in general is called “Bustle gas”.
DRI heater consists of mainly two zones, one is convection zone and another is radiant zone. Feed gas
(Syn gas + Top gas after CO2 removal system) enters the heater at convection zone and then reaches the
radiation zone consists of U-shape hollow tubes which heat up the reducing gas (Feed Gas) from 300oC to
920oC. Burners of DRI heater uses top gas fuel (CO2 is not removed from top gas fuel), syn gas and
excess air in certain ratio and increases the tube temperature to provide heat to the feed gas.

There is a classic use of high temperature resistance materials basically austenitic stainless steel
25Cr35Ni (Nb+Ti) and 35Cr45Ni as per the zonal temperature of the heater. The heat for these tubes is
made in induction furnace and tubes are cast in centrifugal casting machine. The amount trace elements
like Pb, As, Sn and Sb, have to be controlled within 20-50 ppm otherwise creep life would reduce
drastically. Lot of research has been carried out to increase the creep life of these tubes using the correct
amount of microalloying elements. Precise amount of microalloying is required in order to avoid the
formation of deteriorating phases named as sigma and laves. Selection of chemical composition is carried
out on the basis of result of THERMOCALC software, creep test and hot tensile tests. If everything is ok
with the operation of DRI heater means there is no occurrence of frequent heat cycles and flame
impingement is also not there, the life of such heater tubes will be around 100000 hrs successfully. The
condition of the tube material after exposure of certain time period can be estimated using the techniques
of In-situ Metallography. The material of selection must have the following properties: [3, 4]

I. Creep Resistance
II. Thermal fatigue resistance
III. Carburization resistance
IV. Metal Dusting resistance
V. Nitriding Resistance
VI. Oxidation Resistance

In-house development of such tubes eliminates the dependency on import from European countries. This
provides major cost saving and advantage of lead time.

While ordering the same tubes for this application, the creep life must be estimated using LMP curve
provided by the supplier. LMP, Larson Miller Parameter is a parameter which predicts the lifetime of a
material vs. time and temperature. LMP value can be calculated using the curve given by the supplier for
his material for given stress. Using the value of service temperature and stress, time to rupture can be
calculated for the particular material for which LMP curve is known. Generally suppliers of this high
temperature resistance material provide such information with the offer.

LMP = T*(A + log tr)/1000

Where, LMP = Larson-Miller Parameter [5] at given stress equal to service pressure

tr = Time to Rupture (hrs)

T = Service Temperature

Flame impingement is a significant problem which reduces the creep life of the tubes drastically because
tube metal temperature at the place of impingement increases up to 1150 oC to 1200oC. Proper burner
design including the swirling flow system is required to avoid the problem of flame impingement. Process
parameters like air to fuel ratio, excess air, fuel flow to pilot burner and main burner play important role
in flame profile and its length.

Oxygen injection into the blast furnace is another way to increase the bustle gas temperature. Reaction
with oxygen is nothing but the combustion reaction which releases some energy and heats up the bustle
gas. Since there are three components in the bustle gas, the combustion energy of CH4 is minimum
compare to the combustion energy of H2 and CO. The efficiency of oxygen injection must be taken care
while designing the nozzles for injecting Oxygen. A wrong design can reduce the mixing reaction which
leads to the occurrence of less temperature increment after reaction than expected. People have suggested
different design using the principle of computational fluid dynamics with commercial software like
Ansys-Fluent.

Effect of Bed Temperature on Fine Generation

The experimental data was taken using the results of LINDER test carried out DRI lab to understand the
effect of bed temperature on %fine generation. To see the effect of bed temperature on the reducibility
degradation index, RDI tests were carried out in Linder test machine which is capable to physically
simulate the events occurring inside the DRI shaft furnace. RDI is a measure of the ease with which
reduction gases can penetrate the pellet. RDI values were obtained at different temperatures from 500oC
to 850oC. It was found that at lower bed temperatures the RDI was higher and at 820oC, it was minimized
however by further increasing the temperature to 850oC, again its value increased. The study is still going
on and RDI test is carrying out at further higher temperature say 900oC and above. The RDI values shown
in the graph below is the average of 4-5 samples at each temperature. The study of the effect of
temperature on RDI should be conducted for higher no. of samples to further validate the trend.

Average RDI
30

25

20
Average average RDI
15
RDI
10

0
500 760 800 820 850

Temperature (°C)

Fig-3 Plot of Avg. RDI Vs Temperature

Gas Utilization Calculation:

Iron ore pellets charged into the DRI shaft furnace contains oxygen as per the stoichiometric formula. To
reduce the iron ore to metallic Fe; CO and H2 are introduced as Bustle gas in the furnace. The efficiency
of the reduction reaction is expressed in terms of Utilization factor, which is the ratio of theoretically
required minimum gas flow to the actual gas flow.

Utilization Factor = Theoretically required minimum bustle gas flow / Actual Bustle Gas flow

During the reaction, the reducing agents CO and H2 get oxidized to CO2 and H2O respectively,
leading to impairing of the reducing ability of the bustle gas. The gas quality ratio (CO+H2)/(CO2 + H2O)
should be more than 2, for the gas to be able to reduce FeO1.05. Hence there is a threshold limit on oxygen
absorption into the bustle gas. The absorbing capacity of bustle gas for oxygen is a measure of the amount
of oxidants (CO2 and H2O) formed by the oxidation of CO and H2, or it is the measure of the amount of
Oxygen absorbed by the reducing agents. It is the difference between the total oxidants present after the
reaction and the initial amount of CO2 and H2O present in the bustle gas.

Absorption capacity, A.C = (CO2+H2O) total – (CO2+H2O) Initial

Here, CO2 total = 𝜒𝐶𝑂2 . γ𝐶𝑂+𝐶𝑂2 and H2O total = 𝜒𝐻2 𝑂 . 𝛾𝐻2 +𝐻2 𝑂 are the total volume ratios of CO2 and H2O
present in the furnace respectively at equilibrium.
nco2 nH2O
𝜒𝐶𝑂2 = nco2 +nco
, 𝜒𝐻2 𝑂 = n are the mole fractions of CO2 and H2O respectively at equilibrium.
H2 +nH2 O

𝑉𝐶𝑂𝑏 +𝑉𝐶𝑂2𝑏 𝑉𝐻2𝑏 +𝑉𝐻2 𝑂𝑏

𝛾𝐶𝑂+𝐶𝑂2 = 𝑉 and 𝛾𝐻2 +𝐻2 𝑂 = are the volume fractions of
𝑐𝑜𝑏 +𝑉𝑐𝑜2𝑏 +𝑉𝐻2𝑏 +𝑉𝐻2 𝑂𝑏 𝑉𝑐𝑜𝑏 +𝑉𝑐𝑜2𝑏 +𝑉𝐻2𝑏 +𝑉𝐻2𝑂𝑏

(CO+CO2) and (H2+H2O) respectively in the bustle gas.

CO2 Initial = CO2b and H2O Initial= H2O b are the volume fractions of CO2 and H2O present in the bustle gas
respectively. The subscript b denotes bustle gas.

Ratio of oxygen absorbing capacity and gasification of oxygen from the wustite decides the theoretically
required minimum bustle gas flow. [1, 6]

Gasification volume of Oxygen per ton of product can be calculated by using the final Metallic Fe in the
product. If final Metallic Fe in the product is %Fem , the amount of oxygen released can be calculated.

Gasification volume = (%Fem /100)*(16*1.05/55.85) *1000* (22.4/16)

= 421.13*(%Fem/100) [Oxygen Nm3/T]

Theoretically required minimum bustle gas flow for the reduction of Wustite:

Fb* (Nm3/T) = 421.13*(%Fem/100)/A.C

In real process of DRI making, actual bustle gas flow is always more than the theoretically required
minimum gas flow. Hence the ratio of the actual and theoretical gas flow can give the idea of gas
utilization in the furnace.
Required Input in this formula:
1. Composition of Bustle Gas
2. Bustle gas Flow
3. Bed Temperature
4. Product Quality, Fe metallic
5. Plant Productivity

Fig. 4: Screen Shot of Mass balance calculation for Gas Utilization and Top gas composition
Note: Values Inside the cells are symbolic only

The equilibrium calculation was linked with the standard bed temperature. If the bed temperature goes
down, the reaction kinetics will be affected. Utilization factor is the outcome of all the parameters which
decide the performance of any plant by only one value. If utilization factor increases, the bustle gas is
properly utilized to produce with high metallization and %C in DRI. The higher the Utilization the more
completely the reductant gases are used in the furnace thus as utilization increases, H 2 and CO content in
the process gas decreases and H2O and CO2 content increases. Increasing the Bustle gas temperature can
increase the gas utilization because plant productivity increases at higher bustle gas temperature provided
that furnace inside conditions are good. The Utilization factor data can be captured in DCS or Historian
and can be analyzed in order to optimize the plant productivity. When the temperature of the bed
increases to a point where the individual pellets and lumps begin to fuse together clustering or sticking
occurs inside the furnace. So bustle gas temperature is dictated solely by the maximum temperature which
the specific oxide feed tolerate without sticking.

Drawback of Utilization calculation:

 1. The input values of Fe metallic are for the DRI produced after the furnace residence time of 8 to
10 hours. Therefore, fluctuation in Femet value would change the result of Utilization factor. In
order to solve this drawback, support of ANN can be taken to classify the output values with
input parameters to validate the theoretical calculation and estimate the correct residence time.
2. Similarly the fluctuation in %C content in DRI will alter the result of Utilization factor.
3. Bed Temperature is considered to be 830oC. If the value of bed temperature gets changed,
utilization factor would be altered and would not give the correct answer. Hence Kinetic
equations must be linked with this model in future work in order to incorporate the effect of
temperature.
4. The absorption capacity has been calculated ignoring the contribution of CH4 as reducing agent.
5. This model can give correct correlations when the plant is running very stable.

Summary:

1. The H2/CO ratio of the bustle gas plays an important role in terms of balancing the endothermic
and exothermic reactions occurring in the furnace. In Syn-Gas based DRI, this ratio is 2.13 which
is more than the optimum H2/CO ratio 1.65. At the optimum ratio of the exothermic heat of
reaction from reduction with is balanced by the endothermic heat of reaction from reduction
within the reduction furnace and so there is no change in reducing gas temperature from the
reactions. In order to overcome the endothermic effect of high levels of H2 in the furnace, the
bustle gas temperature should be kept at around 1050oC.

2. The quality of input pellet must be closely controlled in order to reduce the amount of fine
generation during the reduction. It is difficult to produce high strength pellets using Soft iron ore
fines having Blaine Index more than 3000 through straight grate process of pellet making. Ore
beneficiation becomes mandatory for reducing the gangue content in the pellets, however this
follows in all types of gas based DRI plants.

3. For controlling the %Carbon in the DRI product, Syn-Gas is injected into the transition zone.
This gas contains only 12 wt% CH4 hence achieving Carbon percentage more than 1.8%
consumes lot of syn-gas.

4. Gas utilization can be calculated using the principle of mass balance in order to understand the
operational efficiency of DRI shaft furnace.

5. DRI heater contains high temperature resistance material tubes for heating the reducing gas. This
material exhibit excellent creep properties but it reduces the creep strength drastically if
temperature is increased beyond the designed temperature. Fluctuation in the gas flowing inside
the tube gives frequent changes in the tube metal temperatures which reduces the surface quality
of the tube material. Hence selection of appropriate tube material for the particular heater
condition is important. While selecting the tube material for heater, the amount of trace elements
must be in lowest content otherwise the creep properties get affected significantly.

Conclusion:

On the basis of plant running experience and studies, following parameters can affect the DRI plant
performance in the period of time.
 1. Percentage of cracked pellets, unfired pellets with the input feed
2. Porosity of the input pellets
3. Proper lime coating of the input pellets
4. Optimized Bed Temperature
5. Optimized bustle gas temperature
6. Heater tube skin temperature by proper Thermal Balance
7. Appropriate Flame profile to avoid any flame impingement
8. Constant Gas flow inside the heater tubes

References:

1. Thompson M.L. Exploring the Operating Parameters in MIDREX Plant. Direct from MIDREX,
4th Quarter, (1991).
2. Jindal Steel and Power Ltd. Archives
3. Young, David John. High temperature oxidation and corrosion of metals. Vol. 1. Elsevier, 2008.
4. Grabke, H., and Michael Schütze. Corrosion by Carbon and Nitrogen: Metal Dusting,
Carburisation and Nitridation. Vol. 41. Elsevier, 2014.
5. Larson, Frank R. "A time temperature relationship for rupture and creep stress." Trans. ASME
(1952): 765-775.
6. NARITA, Kiichi, et al. "Production of Reduced Iron by Model Plant of Shaft Furnace." Tetsu-to-
Hagané 67.3 (1981): 508-517.
7. Alamsari, Bayu, et al. "Heat and mass transfer in reduction zone of sponge iron reactor." ISRN
Mechanical Engineering 2011 (2011).