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Article

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1 Experimental Simulation and Analysis of Agricultural Waste Injection

2 as an Alternative Fuel for a Blast Furnace

3 Carlos Frederico Campos de Assis,† Jorge Alberto Soares Tenório,‡ Paulo Santos Assis,§
,∥
4 and Niloy K. Nath*

†
5 Department of Metallurgy, Federal Center for Technological Education of Minas Gerais (CEFET-MG), Avenida Amazonas 1193,
6 Vale Verde, 35183-006 Timóteo, Minas Gerais, Brazil
‡
7 Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, Polytechnic School, University of São Paulo, Avenida Professor Mello
8 Moraes 2463, 05508-900 São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
§
9 Department of Metallurgical and Materials, School of Mines, Graduate School of Thematic Network in Materials Engineering
10 (REDEMAT), Praça Tiradentes 20, 35000-000 Ouro Preto, Minas Gerais, Brazil
∥
11 Department of Mechanical Engineering, Jayawant Shikshan Prasarak Mandal (JSPM)’s Rajarshi Shahu College of Engineering,
12 University of Pune, Survey Number 80, Tathawade, Pune, Maharashtra 411033, India

13 ABSTRACT: Focus on environmental issues has greatly increased in recent years. This development has led to a competitive
14 advantage for innovative processes that are less harmful to the environment, because they satisfy the environmental
15 consciousness of today’s consumers, enable entrance into more competitive new markets, can even lead to direct profits in
16 accordance with environmental conservation, and earn carbon credits by recycling greenhouse gases. such as CO2 and CH4. The
17 present paper shows the feasibility of using biomass, such as rice husk, sugar cane bagasse, elephant grass, coffee husk, and
18 eucalyptus bark, as substitute materials for powder coal injection into a blast furnace, thereby leading to the replacement of part
19 or even all of coal injected, which is not renewable and causes great environmental impact during mining and extraction. To
20 simulate the possibility of injecting biomass materials, physical modeling, which has been developed for this purpose, is used.
21 Further analyses are particle size classification, surface area, calorific value, and proximate and ultimate analyses. It has been
22 concluded that, using these biomass materials, it is possible to reduce the specific carbon consumption in the blast furnace
23 burden, which enhances the environmental commitment of the steel plant, and, moreover, to use waste generated in agriculture.

1. INTRODUCTION biomass, which is used for reducing the coke consumption in 49

24 Environmental protection has become increasingly important a blast furnace.6 However, even renewable biomass or charcoal 50

25 because society at large has become aware of the importance of have some carbon footprint because of the fact that energy is 51

26 stopping environmental degradation and associated climate required for transportation and processing steps, such as 52

27 change.1,2 Steel production is known to produce a large amount pyrolysis and grinding.5 53

28 of solid and liquid waste as well as gaseous emissions. From the economical point of view, the various types of 54

29 Moreover, steel production units have been recognized as biomass should be more economically attractive than the coal 55

30 being at the forefront of the treatment, recovery, and recycling or even charcoal used in the injection process, to reduce the 56

31 of these wastes, and therefore, the steel industry is considered cost below the carbon replacement or reduction achieved in the 57

32 to be technologically advanced and expert in the environmental blast furnace. Biomass material is produced as a byproduct of 58

33 conservation and remedy.1,3 many agro-industries, which results in a low cost of acquisition. 59

34 A critical factor in the environmental impact of steel In some cases, biomass can be acquired at no cost, but 60

35 production is the consumption of coke, which is an important expenditures related to the transportation, processing, and labor 61

36 raw material for most industrial blast furnaces in integrated involved in the preparation of these materials become 62

37 steel plants for the production of hot metal. Coke accounts for prohibitive. Because of these factors under the present 63

38 greenhouse gas emissions of about 1900 kg of CO2/ton of hot economic scenario, biochar cannot compete solely on the 64

39 metal (tHM), whereas charcoal accounts for 800 kg of CO2/ basis of price against fossil fuels, such as coal and coke;5 65

40 tHM.4,5 The wide difference in CO2 emission or carbon therefore, to mitigate the cost difference, carbon taxation is 66
41 footprint is based on the fact that all CO2 produced during the introduced on the basis of the savings in CO2 emissions.8,9 For 67
42 iron-making process is from non-renewable fossil fuels, whereas the advanced countries with stringent environmental regu- 68
43 charcoal and other biomass materials are produced from lations, such as Germany, Japan, and South Korea, the carbon 69
44 renewable sources of plantation or agricultural waste.6,7 In tax is in the range of 20−33 USD/ton of CO2 emissions;8 70
45 environmental terms, the biomass can be allied as recycling of
46 CO2 with zero effect on the environment, because plants Received: May 30, 2014
47 capture CO2 from the atmosphere and in conjunction with Revised: September 18, 2014
48 water and sunlight through photosynthesis produce the

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Table 1. Cost of Raw Materials and Carbon Tax Levied To Use Renewable Charcoal and Biomass8
item unit China Japan India Brazil U.S.A. South Korea Germany Russia
non-coking coal USD/ton 134 135 120 117 124 134 125 121
charcoal/biochar USD/ton 330 510 320 270 360 375 480 570
carbon tax USD/ton of CO2 0 21 1 0 5 33 19 0

71 however, for other countries, it is negligible or not yet

t1 72 implemented, as shown in Table 1. The availability of large
73 quantities of charcoal from sustainable sources, such as
74 plantations, is possible only in a few countries, such as Brazil
75 and to some extent in India and U.S.A., with charcoal
76 production of 9.89, 1.73, and 0.94 million tons per annum,
77 respectively.8 The availability of agricultural waste on the other
78 hand is sustainable for the countries with large agri-production;
79 however, the cost can still be high because of transportation,
80 processing, and labor costs. The transportation and logistics
81 costs are based on the assumption that the biomaterials are
82 available within 100 km from the plant, and the costs of
83 processing and labor are also high in advanced countries.5,9
84 Therefore, economic viability of biochar will require signifi-
85 cantly higher carbon taxation in the range of 120 USD/ton of
86 CO2 for developed countries, such as Japan, Germany, and
87 U.S.A., whereas for countries such as India and China, it is
88 about 70 USD/ton of CO2. It is lowest for Brazil, in the range
89 of 47 USD/ton of CO2.8 However, as the availability of coke
90 decreases, its price will increase sharply, with unpredictable
91 price variations. Therefore, the methods of iron production that
92 allow for a reduction in the consumption of coal and coke are
93 both economically and environmentally attractive.
94 The blast furnace process can be described as a counter-
95 current reactor with flow of solids, such as iron ore, coke, and
96 flux, from the top moving downward and gas flow from the
97 bottom moving upward. The gas is injected at a high
98 temperature and pressure along with fuel materials, such as
99 pulverized coal or charcoal, through the tuyeres into the
f1 100 combustion zone or raceway, as shown in Figure 1. The tuyere
101 and combustion zone or raceway is enlarged in Figure 1, to
102 elaborate the injection process. The technique of pulverized
103 coal or charcoal injection is known as PCI, and to distinguish,
104 we can define the former technique as PCI(coal) and the latter
105 technique as PCI(charcoal). The materials are injected at high Figure 1. Blast furnace top charging and tuyere injection.
106 pressure with preheated atmospheric air or enriched with
107 oxygen or fuel gas. The objective is to replace the fuel burden at injected into the blast furnace to replace conventional materials, 127
108 the top of the blast furnace. Upon injection, this coal or such as coal, to enable an environmentally friendly process 128
109 charcoal combusts, generating gases and heat. The gases using renewable resources. In the present paper, both 129
110 produced are CO and H2, which participate in the reduction of properties and combustion rates of coal, charcoal, and biomass 130
111 the iron ore and result in the decrease of the fuel (coke or (sugar cane bagasse, elephant grass, rice husk, coffee husk, and 131
112 charcoal) rate at the top charge of the blast furnace.4 eucalyptus bark) are compared and discussed. It is important to 132
113 For biomass to be used as pulverized material injection, it define that, from the viewpoint of energy, biomass is a material 133
114 must meet the physical, chemical, and metallurgical require- derived from living organisms used as fuel or fuel product,6 134
115 ments for injection into a blast furnace. From the physical which is a renewable agricultural waste and, thereby, recycles 135
116 standpoint, the biomass must be milled to reach the appropriate the greenhouse gases, such as CO2 and CH4. 136
117 size for injection through the tuyeres. From the chemical point
118 of view, the biomass must have a chemical composition 2. MATERIALS AND METHODS
119 relatively similar to the coal or charcoal commonly used for To compare the performance of biomass burning pulverized material 137
120 injection, to ensure the thermochemical consistency of in the combustion zone of blast furnaces, a laboratory-scale simulation 138
121 reactions that occur in the combustion zone and, consequently, was performed for the following materials: coal, charcoal, sugar cane 139
bagasse, elephant grass, rice husk, coffee husk, and eucalyptus bark. 140
122 the whole reduction process. The biomass materials were collected directly from the agri-business 141
123 Therefore, this study aims to investigate the feasibility of farms and mixed thoroughly to obtain homogenized samples, which is 142
124 replacing coal injected into the tuyeres of the blast furnace by then crushed or cut to small pieces of 3−10 mm size; however, this 143
125 pulverized biomass. This paper seeks to theoretically and was not required for rice husk and coffee husk because they were 144
126 experimentally determine the amount of biomass that can be already in a small size. The biomass materials were then dried in an 145

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Figure 2. Schematic diagram of the simulator and its regions for powder injection experiments.

Table 2. Results of the Ultimate and Proximate Analyses, Calorific Value, and Specific Surface
biomass
analysis unit coal charcoal sugar cane bagasse elephant grass rice husk coffee husk eucalyptus bark
ultimate C % 80.30 69.75 41.90 40.01 38.82 44.08 50.14
H % 4.01 3.20 5.91 5.36 5.73 5.38 5.42
Oa % 4.97 14.79 40.48 36.9 38.39 40.00 40.50
N % 2.03 0.90 0.35 1.47 0.66 2.04 0.47
S % 0.35 0.11 0.12 0.19 0.12 0.24 0.25
proximate fixed carbon % 71.96 66.47 22.05 16.55 23.25 17.64 28.84
volatile % 19.70 25.80 72.70 69.95 66.20 74.79 68.73
total ash % 8.34 7.73 5.25 13.50 10.55 7.57 2.43
SiO2 % 4.45 3.75 3.45 11.13 10.37 1.74 0.18
Al2O3 % 2.42 1.78 1.57 0.33 0.01 1.18 0.09
CaO % 0.95 1.94 0.12 1.39 0.07 4.25 2.03
SO3 % 0.45 0.14 0.01 0.11 0.03 0.2 0.09
P2O5 % 0.07 0.12 0.09 0.53 0.06 0.2 0.03
calorific value lower MJ/kg 33.12 22.84 14.75 16.40 13.85 16.76 17.56
higher MJ/kg 32.25 23.46 15.91 17.51 14.98 17.90 18.70
specific surface m2/g 3.99 16.75 2.62 2.45 1.99 1.83 1.96
a
O = content of oxygen calculated by difference.

146 oven at 378 K until a constant weight to remove the moisture, and The samples were tested in the laboratory injection simulator to 163
147 then further torrefaction is performed at 453 K to remove all moisture compare and analyze the process of blast furnace tuyere injection, as 164
148 and part of the volatile matter. The dry biomass is further ground in a shown in Figure 2, which simulates the actual condition existing in the 165 f2
149 ball mill and sieve-analyzed to select the size fraction between sieve blast furnace tuyere and raceway region,15,16 to determine the 166
150 100 and sieve 200, which gives particle sizes between 0.075 and 0.150 combustion rate of the material in question. The simulator has the 167
151 mm, which is the standard for solid biofuels.10 Then, the samples were following characteristics: (1) The gas pressure in the regulators (P1 168
152 again passed through the furnace at 378 K to minimize the moisture and P2) are 5 and 2 bar, respectively, similar to the pressure typically 169
153 content below 5 wt %. encountered in the blast furnace tuyere and raceway. (2) The particles 170
154 Once prepared, the samples were subjected to detailed analysis, in the high-pressure gas jet have a short residence time of 0.02−0.05 s, 171
155 following the standard methods of proximate chemical analysis,11 as in the blast furnace raceway. (3) The powdered material experiences 172
156 ultimate chemical analysis,12,13 and calorific value analysis.14 The ash a large heating rate of approximately 104−105 K/s when injected into 173
157 composition of coal and biomass were determined by X-ray the simulator, as in blast furnace tuyeres. 174
158 fluorescence (Siemens-Bruker-AXS model D5000). The specific The equipment shown in Figure 2 has two furnaces; the first 175
159 surface area was analyzed using the Brunauer−Emmett−Teller furnace is a preheating furnace with a temperature variation of 300− 176
160 (BET) method. A much higher specific surface area for charcoal 1473 K. The main objective of this furnace is to supply heat to the 177
161 compared to coal is also reported by Babich et al.,7 and this testifies injected gas or oxygen at around 1273−1373 K, simulating the blowing 178
162 high reactivity of charcoal. temperature of the blast furnace.15,16 The furnace temperature is 179

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180 monitored by a digital temperature controller activated by a levels,19−21 which must be taken into account in the choice of 242
181 thermocouple. The reaction chamber of the furnace consists of a coal. The ash content of the coal, charcoal, or biomass should 243
182 stainless-steel tube approximately 0.415 m long and 0.075 m in be at a minimum, because the ash consists of minerals that 244
183 diameter. The second furnace that simulates the combustion zone is consume heat during melting and endothermic reactions and 245
184 capable of operating at temperatures higher than 1473 K, and can
185 reach as high as 1973 K during combustion, as monitored by a digital increases slag volume, resulting in decreased permeability and 246

186 temperature controller. The purpose of the furnace is to simulate the irregularities, such as flooding and slag holdup.4,22. The ash 247
187 characteristics of the combustion zone of a blast furnace. content and CaO/SiO2 ratio for charcoal are marginally better 248
188 A pressure gauge is placed near the entrance of the preheating than the coal analyzed here; therefore, charcoal can be 249
189 furnace to monitor and adjust the gas pressure, immediately after considered as a good substitute for PCI in a blast furnace. 250
190 which there is a cooling device operated with water to ensure that the The proximate analysis for biomass shows wide variation in 251
191 heat inside the preheating furnace is not conducted to the gas before ash content from 2.43% in eucalyptus bark to 13.5% in elephant 252
192 reaching the interior. Both the furnaces and the injection lance tubes grass. The mineralogy of the ash is also very important and, 253
193 are connected by stainless-steel tubes, and inside the combustion
preferably, should have higher CaO and lower SiO2 for slag 254
194 furnace, there is a quartz or ceramic tube to withstand the high
195 temperatures that are reached inside the furnace. At the end of the basicity, along with very low S and P contents. The analysis 255
196 combustion furnace tube, there is a filter to remove the unburned shows a very high ash content and an unfavorably high silica 256
197 portion of the material and direct the gas to the electromagnetic valve, content in elephant grass and rice husk, along with high S and P 257
198 which emits a pulse that directs the gas to be collected in a glass contents in elephant grass, making them less suitable for fuel 258
199 ampule. This gas is directed to the Orsat for analysis. This apparatus injection, whereas eucalyptus bark with a minimum ash content 259
200 consists of a set of glass vials containing solutions that can capture the and high CaO/SiO2 ratio can be considered as the most 260
201 gas. This system is connected by glass tubes through which the gas is suitable for biomass injection, followed by sugar cane bagasse 261
202 forced to pass, thus generating readings on the content of CO, CO2, and coffee husk. 262
203 O2, H2, and CH4. Cupric chloride is used to collect CO; potassium
204 hydroxide is used to collect CO2; pirogalol is used to collect O2; and
The volatiles from the biomass is 3.5 times greater than that 263

205 sodium chloride is used to collect CH4. from the coal and 2.5 times greater than that from the charcoal. 264
206 After the analysis, the combustion rate is calculated using the The fixed carbon in the biomass is 4 times less than that in the 265
207 following equation: coal and 3 times less than that in the charcoal. The volatile 266
matter in the charcoal and biomass can be controlled by the 267
⎧ (%CO + %CO2 )ng ⎫ torrefaction and pyrolysis temperature. Torrefaction is the 268
CR = K ⎨ ⎬
⎩ ma × %Cf/1200000 − ng × %CH4 /100 ⎭ pretreatment of biomass to remove the moisture and part of the 269
volatile matter, which is performed in the temperature range of 270
208 in which CR is the combustion rate (%), %CO, %CO2, and %CH4 are 450−550 K. Pyrolysis of the biomass or wood can then be 271
209 the percentages of gases produced, %Cf is the percentage of fixed performed at a higher temperature range of 550−750 K in an 272
210 carbon contained in the sample, ng is the number of moles of gas after oxygen-free atmosphere, to remove most of the volatile matter 273
the experiment, ma is the sample mass in milligrams of carbon
211
and obtain a high percentage of fixed carbon. The higher the 274
212 injected, and K is a constant.
213 Three tests were conducted for each sample analysis, and all of the pyrolysis temperature, the lower the volatile matter, but it will 275
214 tests are in accordance with the same standard deviation and accuracy. also lower the yield of production;17 therefore, judicious 276
215 The effect of hydrogen is not analyzed here, because the percentage control of the pyrolysis temperature is required to obtain a 277
216 of hydrogen is much lower than carbon in the fuel materials, as shown good yield with an optimum amount of volatile matter. In the 278
t2 217 in Table 2, and it has no greenhouse gas effect. Hydrogen mainly present study, the charcoal was pyrolyzed at 573 K and 279
218 comes from the hydrocarbons or volatile matter, and when we analyze torrefaction of the biomass was performed at 453 K. Pyrolysis 280
219 the effect of volatile matter, it actually indicates the effect of hydrogen. of the biomass was not performed to maximize the biochar 281
220 Therefore, a high content of volatile matter or hydrogen increases the yield and avail the energy of the volatile matter and the benefits 282
221 combustion rate but decreases the calorific value of the fuel; thus, it
222 has both positive and negative effects. Hydrogen, however, has the
of high volatile matter, such as a high combustion rate in the 283

223 positive effect of increasing the indirect reduction of iron ore or sinter raceway. 284
224 material in the stack region of the blast furnace, thereby decreasing the In the case of sulfur (S) and phosphorus (P), which are 285
225 carbon or coke required for direct reduction and improving the energy harmful to steel, the biomass materials contains almost 3−10 286
226 efficiency and fuel consumption.17 However, this cannot be evaluated times less sulfur than coal or charcoal; however, for 287
227 in a laboratory simulator, and thus, the effect of hydrogen is not phosphorus, most of the biomaterials showed a relatively high 288
228 analyzed directly; only its effect is indirectly observed by the low P content, in the range of 0.07−0.12% P, such as coal and 289
229 calorific values of biomass materials with a high percentage of volatile charcoal, except for eucalyptus bark, which showed a promising 290
230 matter, as shown in Table 2. result of 0.03% P. Therefore, it is imperative to evaluate the 291
effect of biomass injection, so that a proper mix of biomass, 292
3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION coal, and charcoal can be ascertained for optimum performance 293
231 Table 2 presents the ultimate chemical analysis, proximate and control of the blast furnace. 294
232 analysis, upper and lower calorific values, and specific surface of Oxygen participates in the combustion of carbon, hydrogen, 295
233 coal, charcoal, and biomass materials. The injected coal must and hydrocarbons in the pulverized fuel injected into the blast 296
234 have the maximum possible fixed carbon and minimal ash. The furnace. The oxygen levels in the biomass materials are very 297
235 carbon is the main component of coal along with some volatile high, as shown in Table 2, and this can be a favorable point 298
236 matter, which generates heat and reducing gases (H2 and provided that it is in molecular form “O2”, to participate in the 299
237 CO).18 However, more volatile coals have better combustion combustion reaction. However, most of the oxygen may not be 300
238 rates because the volatile matter becomes gasified quickly at a available as free oxygen, because it can be locked in minerals, 301
239 high temperature, giving rise to faster combustion, but they such as SiO2, CaO, CaCO3, and water of crystallization H2O, 302
240 have a lower calorific value and coke substitution rate because which is not be available for combustion. This will only make 303
241 of the presence of higher amounts of hydrogen and oxygen the part of the biomass oxygen-neutral material, which will 304

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Figure 3. Effect of the injection rate on the combustion rate of various materials injected into a blast furnace.

305 neither give any free oxygen nor require any oxygen for tested materials and found to be more than 10 times that of the 342
306 combustion. This will, therefore, decrease the oxygen require- biomass and 9 times that of the coal, as shown in Table 2, 343
307 ment per unit biomass; however, it will also lower the calorific thereby explaining why the combustion rate of charcoal is much 344
308 value because of the presence of non-combustible materials, as higher compared to the other materials, as seen in Figure 3. 345
309 seen in Table 2. The combustion efficiency of the coal increases with 346
310 The calorific value of coal is more than twice that of biomass; increasing the stoichiometric ratio (moles of O2/moles of C) 347
311 therefore, it will be necessary to perform the pulverized biomass up to 1 (maximum value). This ratio is understood as the 348
312 injection with injected air at a higher temperature, which can be relationship between the amount of air supplied and that 349
313 accomplished by preheating the injected air using a cowper. necessary for oxidation of the injected fuel to CO2. The effect 350
314 Efficient cowper operation can preheat the tuyere gas and of the injection rate can be determined from the stoichiometric 351
315 biomass injection to 1373 K or more, which will help in ratio, because a higher rate of injection of air into the tuyeres at 352
316 maintaining the high raceway temperature of about 2473 the same oxygen percentage corresponds with a lower 353
317 K.15,16,23 stoichiometric ratio and, consequently, a lower efficiency of 354
318 The hot metal production rate of a blast furnace quantifies coal combustion.24 Figure 3 shows the continuing evolution of 355
319 the input rate of all of the raw materials and the gas flow rate in injection rates and the rates of combustion of the materials 356
320 the tuyeres, according to the stoicheometric requirements for involved in the research. Another important fact is that the 357
321 the iron ore reduction and combustion of the fuels or thermal combustion rate decreases with increasing the injection rate. 358
322 energy requirements. Therefore, for a fixed rate of hot metal This can be explained by the fact that the ratio between oxygen 359
323 production in a blast furnace, we cannot increase or decrease and carbon (O2/C) decreases when the injection rate into the 360
324 the gas flow rate in the tuyeres, and also, the rate of fuel tuyeres increases. 361
325 injection is expressed in terms of kilograms per ton of hot metal The combustion rate of the fuel injected should be high in 362
326 (kg/tHM). Considering this fixed rate of gas flow in the the range of 84% or above, because the lower combustion rate 363
327 tuyeres, experiments have been conducted in the laboratory may lead to unburnt fuel, leading to thermal inefficiency and 364
328 simulator, to evaluate how much fuel combustion is complete higher fuel consumption. A combustion rate of 90% or above 365
329 within the raceway [combustion rate (%)] versus the amount of with a relatively high fuel rate of 80−100 kg/tHM is possible 366
330 fuel injected [injection rate (kg/tHM)], to evaluate the for charcoal, which shows the best overall fuel injection 367
331 maximum fuel injection rate possible through the tuyeres for properties, as shown in Figure 3. This is corroborated by the 368
f3 332 the different pulverized fuel materials, as shown in Figure 3. properties of charcoal that positively influence the combusti- 369
333 The higher the fuel injection rate the lower the coke rate from bility in the raceway, because the specific surface of the charcoal 370
334 the top charge according to the coke replacement ratio, which is 3 times greater than that of mineral coal and biomass, which 371
335 is based on the calorific value and chemical properties of the is also reported in the literature.7,19 Among the biomass, the 372
336 injected fuel.5 eucalyptus bark showed the highest combustion rates for the 373
337 The smaller the particle size, the greater the speed of injections studied. The eucalyptus bark has the second highest 374
338 combustion. The increase in surface area of the particles content of volatiles, lower ash content, and higher calorific 375
339 increases contact with air injected into the combustion zone, value compared to other biomass. This works as a performance 376
340 which results in an increased rate of combustion.4 The specific enhancement for the combustion of eucalyptus bark. Both 377
341 surface area of charcoal is much higher than that of the other charcoal and eucalyptus bark can be injected at a relatively high 378

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412 ultimate analysis showed that sulfur is less in biomass than coal. Proceedings of the 1st International Meeting on Ironmaking; Belo 476
413 However, in comparison to charcoal, the sulfur content of Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil, Sept 24−26, 2001; Vol. 1, pp 24−34. 477
414 biomass is higher. (5) The phosphorus content obtained from (19) Mathieson, J. G.; Rogers, H.; Somerville, M. A.; Jahanshahi, S. 478
415 the ash analysis showed wide variations, with a significantly high ISIJ Int. 2012, 52, 1489−1496. 479
416 value for elephant grass and a much lower value for eucalyptus (20) Wijayanta, A. T.; Alam, M. S.; Nakaso, K.; Fukai, J.; Kunitomo, 480
417 bark. (6) The combustion rate of biomass was greater than that K.; Shimizu, M. ISIJ Int. 2014, 54, 1521−1529. 481
418 of coal, with injection rates between 50 and 90 kg/tHM and (21) Li, H.; Elliot, L.; Rogers, H.; Wall, T. Energy Fuels 2014, 28, 482
419 between 130 and 150 kg/tHM. (7) A relatively high injection 363−368. 483
420 rate of 80−100 kg/tHM, with a high combustion rate of 88% or (22) Assis, P. S. Einblasen von holzkohle in den holzkohlehochofen. 484

421 above, can be achieved for charcoal and eucalyptus bark. (8) Doctoral Dissertation, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany, 485
1991; pp 124. 486
422 The injection rate of 60−80 kg/tHM, with a reasonably good (23) Santos, B. O. D. A.; Maia, B. T.; Garajau, F. S.; Guerra, M. D. S. 487
423 combustion rate of 84% or above, can be achieved for coal and L.; Assis, P. S.; Barros, J. E. M. J. Mater. Res. Technol. 2014, 3 (2), 142− 488
424 all other biomass materials, except eucalyptus bark, which has a 149. 489
425 superior injection rate.

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(24) Langner, K.; Altmeyer, G.; Korthas, B. Recent evaluation of coal 490
injection at Thyssen Stahl AG. Proceedings of the Meeting of Young 491
426 AUTHOR INFORMATION European Blast Furnace Engineers; Port Talbot, U.K., Nov 1992; pp 3− 492

427 Corresponding Author 4. 493

428 *E-mail: niloykn@yahoo.com.

429 Notes
430 The authors declare no competing financial interest.

431

432
■ ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors acknowledge CAPES, CNPq, REDEMAT,
433 USIMINAS, CITYGUSA, AÇ OMINAS, UFOP, CEFET-MG
434 Unidade Timóteo, Brazil, and JSPM’s Rajarshi Shahu College
435 of Engineering, India, and the research group studying
436 pulverized injection materials in blast furnaces.
F dx.doi.org/10.1021/ef501236g | Energy Fuels XXXX, XXX, XXX−XXX