The Influence of Hydrogen Injection
on the Reduction Process in the Lower
Part of the Blast Furnace:
A Thermodynamic Study
Zeji Tang, Zhong Zheng, Hongsheng Chen, and Kun He
Abstract To reduce the CO 2 emission in ironmaking, H 2 is suggested to be the
best alternative to the fossil fuels used in the blast furnace, and it attracts increasing
attention in recent decades. It is well known the reduction behavior of iron oxides
with hydrogen is significantly different from that with carbon. Thus, the operation
of the blast furnace will change greatly if hydrogen is injected into the blast furnace.
However, the influence of hydrogen injection on the reduction process in the blast
furnace is seldom addressed in the literature. In this work, the principle of minimum
Gibbs free energy is applied to analyze the thermodynamics under working conditions
in the lower part of the blast furnace taking into account hydrogen injection. Results
indicate that the addition of H 2 plays a crucial role in the thermal balance of the
system and the reduction process of wustite. When the amount of heat supplied by
hydrogen injection is less than 25%, the gas utilization ratio increases by injecting
hydrogen. In this circumstance, wustite can be completely reduced by carbon, and
no water is formed because H 2 only acts as a transmission medium. The situation
becomes totally different when it is over 25%, and the coexistence of carbon and
wustite can be observed.
Keywords Ironmaking · Hydrogen · Blast furnace · Thermodynamics
Introduction
The blast furnace is of great advantage in the ironmaking process due to its higher
thermal efficiency and huge production scale. However, ironmaking using blast
furnace suffers from coke resource shortage and severe CO 2 emission considering
the National Sustainable Development Strategy. To solve these problems, hydrogen
injection into the blast furnace is a promising ironmaking technology. Compared to
Z. Tang · Z. Zheng (B) · H. Chen · K. He
College of Materials Science and Engineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400044, China
e-mail: zhengzh@cqu.edu.cn
© The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society 2021
A. A. Baba et al. (eds.), Energy Technology 2021, The Minerals, Metals
& Materials Series, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-65257-9_14
149
on the Reduction Process in the Lower
Part of the Blast Furnace:
A Thermodynamic Study
Zeji Tang, Zhong Zheng, Hongsheng Chen, and Kun He
Abstract To reduce the CO 2 emission in ironmaking, H 2 is suggested to be the
best alternative to the fossil fuels used in the blast furnace, and it attracts increasing
attention in recent decades. It is well known the reduction behavior of iron oxides
with hydrogen is significantly different from that with carbon. Thus, the operation
of the blast furnace will change greatly if hydrogen is injected into the blast furnace.
However, the influence of hydrogen injection on the reduction process in the blast
furnace is seldom addressed in the literature. In this work, the principle of minimum
Gibbs free energy is applied to analyze the thermodynamics under working conditions
in the lower part of the blast furnace taking into account hydrogen injection. Results
indicate that the addition of H 2 plays a crucial role in the thermal balance of the
system and the reduction process of wustite. When the amount of heat supplied by
hydrogen injection is less than 25%, the gas utilization ratio increases by injecting
hydrogen. In this circumstance, wustite can be completely reduced by carbon, and
no water is formed because H 2 only acts as a transmission medium. The situation
becomes totally different when it is over 25%, and the coexistence of carbon and
wustite can be observed.
Keywords Ironmaking · Hydrogen · Blast furnace · Thermodynamics
Introduction
The blast furnace is of great advantage in the ironmaking process due to its higher
thermal efficiency and huge production scale. However, ironmaking using blast
furnace suffers from coke resource shortage and severe CO 2 emission considering
the National Sustainable Development Strategy. To solve these problems, hydrogen
injection into the blast furnace is a promising ironmaking technology. Compared to
Z. Tang · Z. Zheng (B) · H. Chen · K. He
College of Materials Science and Engineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400044, China
e-mail: zhengzh@cqu.edu.cn
© The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society 2021
A. A. Baba et al. (eds.), Energy Technology 2021, The Minerals, Metals
& Materials Series, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-65257-9_14
149