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Computational Fluid Dynamic Modeling of Zinc Slag Fuming Process in Top-Submerged Lance Smelting Furnace

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Abstract

Slag fuming is a reductive treatment process for molten zinciferous slags for extracting zinc in the form of metal vapor by injecting or adding a reductant source such as pulverized coal or lump coal and natural gas. A computational fluid dynamic (CFD) model was developed to study the zinc slag fuming process from imperial smelting furnace (ISF) slag in a top-submerged lance furnace and to investigate the details of fluid flow, reaction kinetics, and heat transfer in the furnace. The model integrates combustion phenomena and chemical reactions with the heat, mass, and momentum interfacial interaction between the phases present in the system. A commercial CFD package AVL Fire 2009.2 (AVL, Graz, Austria) coupled with a number of user-defined subroutines in FORTRAN programming language were used to develop the model. The model is based on three-dimensional (3-D) Eulerian multiphase flow approach, and it predicts the velocity and temperature field of the molten slag bath, generated turbulence, and vortex and plume shape at the lance tip. The model also predicts the mass fractions of slag and gaseous components inside the furnace. The model predicted that the percent of ZnO in the slag bath decreases linearly with time and is consistent broadly with the experimental data. The zinc fuming rate from the slag bath predicted by the model was validated through macrostep validation process against the experimental study of Waladan et al. The model results predicted that the rate of ZnO reduction is controlled by the mass transfer of ZnO from the bulk slag to slag–gas interface and rate of gas-carbon reaction for the specified simulation time studied. Although the model is based on zinc slag fuming, the basic approach could be expanded or applied for the CFD analysis of analogous systems.

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Abbreviations

\( C_{D} \) :

drag coefficient

D :

cylinder diameter

\( D_{o} \) :

outlet diameter of the cylinder

\( D_{b} \) :

bubble diameter

\( d_{o} \) :

outer diameter of the lance

\( d_{i} \) :

inner diameter of the lance

f :

body force vector

g :

gravitational body force

\( H^{'} \) :

lance submergence Level

k :

turbulent kinetic energy

\( L^{'} \) :

liquid level in the cylinder

L :

distance from the lance tip to bottom of the furnace

l :

vertical depth from the lance tip

N :

number of phases

\( Q_{a} \) :

air flow rate through lance

\( Q_{f} \) :

fuel flow rate through lance

\( Re_{\text{b}} \) :

bubble Reynolds number

R :

radius of the cylindrical vessel

r :

radial distance from the centre point

\( T_{k}^{t} \) :

phase k Reynolds stress

v :

velocity vector

X :

radial coordinate

Y :

tangential coordinate

Z :

axial coordinate

\( \mu_{k} \) :

molecular viscosity

\( \mu_{k}^{t} \) :

turbulent viscosity for phase k

\( \mu_{c}^{t,SI} \) :

shear induced turbulent viscosity for continuous phase

\( \mu_{c}^{t,BI} \) :

bubble induced turbulent viscosity for continuous phase

\( \alpha_{k} \) :

volume fraction of phase k

\( \rho_{k} \) :

density for phase k

\( \tau_{k} \) :

phase k shear stress

\( \delta_{k} \) :

Kronecker delta function

\( \varepsilon_{k} \) :

dissipation rate

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Acknowledgments

The authors express their gratitude to the Faculty of Engineering and Industrial Science, Swinburne University of Technology and Outotec Limited, for financial and technical support. The authors also thank Mr. Brian Lightfoot for useful discussions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Engineering and Industrial Science, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, Melbourne, VIC, 3122, Australia

    Nazmul Huda (PhD Student), Jamal Naser (Senior Lecturer) & Geoffrey Brooks (Professor)

  2. Outotec Limited, Dandenong, Melbourne, VIC, 3175, Australia

    Markus A. Reuter (Director - Technology and Product Management) & Robert W. Matusewicz (Technical Development Manager)

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  1. Nazmul Huda
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  2. Jamal Naser
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  3. Geoffrey Brooks
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Correspondence to Nazmul Huda.

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Manuscript submitted February 14, 2011.

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Huda, N., Naser, J., Brooks, G. et al. Computational Fluid Dynamic Modeling of Zinc Slag Fuming Process in Top-Submerged Lance Smelting Furnace. Metall Mater Trans B 43, 39–55 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11663-011-9558-6

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