Role of Heat Transfer in Early Stage Decarburization of DRI in Slag

The gas generation from reactions between direct reduced iron (DRI) pellets and steelmaking slags is known to take place in two stages; (1) the reaction of FeO and carbon within DRI, i.e., pellet internal reaction, followed by (2) the reduction of slag FeO with DRI carbon at the pellet–slag interface, if any carbon remains from the first step. To understand the controlling mechanism of the reaction between FeO and C inside DRI, the rate of the gas release and the temperature of pellets suspended in a slag-free atmosphere were quantified. The results were used to determine the apparent thermal conductivity of DRI that showed values of approximately 0.5 to 2 W.m−1.K−1 for a temperature range of 573 K to 1273 K (300 °C to 1000 °C). Furthermore, it was found that the experimental gas evolution rates are consistent with the values predicted by a heat–transfer based model, confirming that the FeO-C reaction within pellet is controlled by the rate of heat transfer from the slag to the DRI pellet.