Доменна плавка під тиском і збагачення дуття киснем – інтенсифікатори процесу чи необґрунтована данина традиціям

The fallacy of existing statements about the unfounded expediency of using increased gas pressure in the working space of blast furnaces and enriching the blast with oxygen as intensifiers of the blast furnace process is shown, due to the incorrect comparison of the operation of furnaces of different volumes, which operated under sharply different raw material and operating conditions. Using the example of two blast furnaces of the same enterprise, the volume of which differed by almost two times, it is shown that with an increase in the useful volume of the furnace, the value of increased gas pressure as a means of intensification of melting increases in comparison with units of lower capacity. The main reasons for the increase in the resistance of the charge column are given, which are associated with both a decrease in the volume fraction of coke in the “dry” zone of the furnace and a thinning of the coke “windows” in the cohesion zone with a decrease in the volume fraction of coke, an overestimation of the working height of blast furnaces of Soviet designs, and the need to create powerful tuyeres for the redistribution of tuyeres gas to the centre of the furnace with an increase in the power of the units. It is precisely to overcome the effects of negative factors in order to intensify blast melting that pressure blast furnace melting is widely used. The data obtained from the research results not only indicate the effectiveness of using increased gas pressure, but also indicate its differentiated effect on the intensity of melting in furnaces of different volumes. According to the results of the study, without involving an increase in gas pressure on the top as an intensifier of blast furnace melting, forcing the furnace stroke by blowing can be carried out only by increasing the unevenness of the radial gas distribution with excess coke consumption. It is shown that increasing the gas pressure in the working space of the furnaces and enriching the blow with oxygen are not antagonists, since they are aimed at overcoming negative changes of various nature that arose in the process of improving blast furnace melting