MAKERERE UNIVERSITY

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING, DESIGN,

ART AND TECHNOLOGY

SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING
DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

DESIGN AND PROCESS SIMULATION FOR

DIRECT REDUCTION OF IRON ORES USING
HYDROGEN GAS
BY;
MUHOOZI VICTOR
1900700818
19/U/0818

MAIN SUPERVISOR: CO-SUPERVISOR:

MR. EDMOND MPAGI DR. PETER OLUPOT
….……………………… ……………………….
Abstract
Uganda is rich in iron ore, which is being extracted and exploited in places of
Kyanyamuzinda, Kamena, Rushekye, Nyamiyaga, Butale, and Kasenyi which give
rise to the Muko deposits in the Kabale district as well as Sukulu in Tororo District
and Bukusu found in Mbale District. The iron ores found in these places are mined
and extracted for processing in the blast furnace to manufacture different iron and
steel products.
Besides these places, manufacturing industries like Tembo steel industries, steel and
tube industries among others produce these products by melting scrap or burning coal
and coke producing carbon-monoxide which along with high temperature, converts
the iron ore into molten pig iron. For production the scrap to be used is melted using
the blast furnace method which releases a lot of carbon-dioxide fumes into the
atmosphere which pollutes the whole environment making it unsafe to live in.
According to the high demand of the products on the market, their production cannot
be stopped, rather there should be an alternative way of manufacturing these products
but without releasing these harmful gases into the atmosphere. The focus of this study
is to design and simulate the furnace for the MIDREX technology. MIDREX
technology which is the most important gas based direct reduced iron (DRI) process
in the world, includes reduction, transition and cooling zones.
With the introduction of this technology into the manufacturing industries will not
only save time in the manufacturing process, but also assist in the quality production,
completely eliminating the harmful gases released into the atmosphere, operations are
clean since hydrogen gas used in the process is clean and the whole method is cost
effective compared to the blast furnace technology.

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Table of Contents
CHAPTER 1........................................................................................................................................... 1
1. INTRODUCTION..........................................................................................................................1
1.1. Project Background................................................................................................................1
1.2. Problem Statement.................................................................................................................2
1.3. Major Objective.....................................................................................................................3
1.3.1. Specific Objectives...............................................................................................................3
1.4. Scope.....................................................................................................................................3
Significance........................................................................................................................................3
1.5. Justification............................................................................................................................3
2. LITERATURE REVIEW...............................................................................................................4
2.1. Iron Ore..................................................................................................................................4
2.2. Direct reduction rotary kiln technique using coal...................................................................4
2.3. Direct reduction of iron ore using a furnace...........................................................................5
2.4. Alternative strategies to cut carbon emissions into the atmosphere........................................6
2.4.1. How to overcome high energy consumption in the production of hydrogen.........................7
2.4.2. Properties of Hydrogen gas as a reducing agent....................................................................7
2.4.3. Design parameters to consider during the development of the technology to be used in the
direct reduction using hydrogen gas...............................................................................................7
2.4.4. Advantages of alternative strategies to cut carbon emissions over the blast furnace and
rotary kiln technique.......................................................................................................................8
2.5. Process simulation on the technology of reducing the iron ore using hydrogen gas...............8
3. METHODOLOGY.........................................................................................................................9
3.1. Determining the design requirements for the method of direct reduction of iron ore using
hydrogen gas.......................................................................................................................................9
3.1.1. Data collection......................................................................................................................9
3.1.2. Field work.............................................................................................................................9
3.1.3. Collection of information and data from the site through interviews....................................9
3.1.4. Literature Review.................................................................................................................9
3.1.5. Analyzing data......................................................................................................................9
3.2. Developing a conceptual and detailed design of the direct reduction of iron ore in a shaft
furnace using hydrogen gas...............................................................................................................10
3.2.1. Conceptual Design Introduction.........................................................................................10
3.2.2. Mathematical design of the model......................................................................................11
3.2.3. Reaction Rates....................................................................................................................12
3.3. Process simulation of the detail designed method................................................................12

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 3.3.1. Material Selection...............................................................................................................12
3.3.2. Method performance testing using a software.....................................................................13
4. APPENDIX..................................................................................................................................14
4.1. Appendix 1: Time Line for the Flow of Activities...............................................................14
4.2. Appendix 2: Budget.............................................................................................................15
5. Bibliography.................................................................................................................................16

List of Figures
Figure 1: Shows the iron ore stones...............................................................................4
Figure 2:Blast furnace technology(Extraction of Iron | Metallurgy | Blast Furnace and
Reactions, n.d.)...............................................................................................................6
Figure 3: layout of new technology...............................................................................7
Figure 4: MIDREX Direct Reduction of iron ore method (Hamadeh et al., 2018).....10
Figure 5: 2D representation of the REDUCTOR model technology...........................12

List of Tables
Table 1: shows the design parameters to consider during the development of the
technology.................................................................................................................... 8
Table 2: shows the particle properties and their corresponding values.......................10
Table 3: shows the Gantt chart showing the activities during the project proposal
writing........................................................................................................................ 14
Table 4: shows the budget of the activities.................................................................15

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 CHAPTER 1

1. INTRODUCTION

1.1. Project Background

Iron ores are rocks from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. Iron is
the 4th most common element in the world and one of the most abundant, constituting
of about 5% of the Earth’s crust (Kim et al., 2021) . Since iron has high affinity for
oxygen, it mostly exists as iron oxides in its natural form. Iron ore is usually found in
the form of magnetite (Fe3O4, 72.4% Fe), hematite (Fe2O3, 69.9% Fe), goethite
(FeO(OH), 62.9% Fe), Limonite (FeO(OH).nH2O)) or Siderite (FeCO3, 48.2%Fe)
(Damilola et al., 2016).

The invention of iron and steel transformed civilization as we know it and humanity
as a whole. Iron's adaptability comes from the fact that its material structure can be
easily changed to adopt new qualities that enable it to suit a variety of uses
(Guo et al., 2015)
. Iron has been discovered to be incredibly important for large industrial
production and development ever since the first industrial revolution. Since iron and
steel are both a production and economic engine, the development of her iron and
steel industry has been linked to the expansion of many economies throughout the
world. Explorations and mining of these ores requires a huge government
involvement due to the high capital investment requirement. Most countries have
invested in exploring their lands in search of the iron ore deposits (Sohn et al., 2021).
Immense efforts have also been channeled to extensive research on several iron ore
beneficiation technologies with respect to the nation’s available natural and monetary
resources.

The blast furnace technique is currently used by the majority of steel mills, and it is
principally powered by coal, coke, plus coke oven gas (Nyankson & Kolbeinsen, 2015).
Sinter belt, blast furnace, and converter being three examples of succeeding processes
that function at extreme temperatures, are hence energy-intensive, and produce a
significant amount of CO2 (Li et al., 2021). The production of iron contributes to 7%
of the world's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, according to (Bhaskar et al., 2020).
To reach the emission reduction targets, incremental adjustments to the primary iron
production processes now in use would not be adequate.

Alternative processes have risen in importance as a result of declining natural

resource availability, declining iron ore and coke quality, increasing prices for such
resources, and other factors. Various process technologies use different amounts of
primary energy as well as different sources of energy and raw materials for producing
steel. One of the most particularly valuable of non-catalytic gas-solid reaction systems
is the direct reduction (DR) process of iron ore. Without ever using coke or iron ore
smelting, it is an alternative to the traditional blast furnace iron manufacturing process
(Metolina et al., 2022). The manufacturing of liquid steel using the current BF/BOF
and EAF based production pathways has resulted in significant specific energy usage
(SEC) and CO2 emissions for producing liquid steel in today’s BF/BOF and EAF

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based production routes which have caused severe changes in climate
(Dahl & Larsson, 2004)
.

Climate change is the main concern behind the idea of employing hydrogen as a
reduction agent (Patisson & Mirgaux, 2020). This is caused by the virtually depending
solely on carbon (coal or coke) for the energy and chemical reduction needed along
the production of steel, with the blast furnace playing a crucial role in this transition
of solid iron ore (in the form of sinter) into liquid pig iron. The majority of iron ores
are oxides and CO2 is released when an iron oxide is chemically reduced to Fe by C
(or by CO produced from C or from CH 4). The fundamental concept of hydrogen
iron-making is to use H2 in place of the C (or CO) reductant, which results in
equations 1-4 below.

Fe2O3(s) + 1.5 C(s) = 2 Fe(s) + 1.5 CO2(g) (1)

or Fe2O3(s) + 3 CO(g) = 2 Fe(s) + 3 CO2(g) (2)

with 3Fe2O3(s) + H2 = 2Fe3O4(s) + H2O(g) (3)

Fe3O4(s) + 4H2(g) = 3Fe(s) + 4H2O(g) (4)

thus, releasing harmless H2O instead of the greenhouse gas CO 2 in the chemical
reduction step.

This indicates that switching from coke, which is used as a reducing agent in the blast
furnaces, to hydrogen gas produced from water electrolysis technology has the
potential to reduce these emissions from the manufacturing of iron and steel. This
type of research has to be used in bringing to reality the Design and Simulation of
reducing iron ores using hydrogen gas. This shall be combined with electric arc
furnace (EAF) for the production of carbon-free steel.

1.2. Problem Statement

Over 500 million tonnes of iron ore are available in our country and only 0.0033% is
being utilized per year to make iron products in most industries today. These products
are made from molten scrap or burning coal and coke producing carbon-monoxide
which along with high temperature, converts the iron ore into molten pig iron using
the blast furnace. This technology has a negative impact on the environment in that
there are significant carbon emissions released. This comes as a result of large quest
for iron and steel products which are used in simple homes to complex industrial
applications. These carbon emissions when released into the atmosphere, cause global
climate change which interferes with nature and severely affects the ozone layer
causing extended droughts and seasonal changes. Therefore, there is lack of suitable
technology to manufacture iron and steel products without releasing the carbon
emissions.

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 1.3. Major Objective

To design and simulate a method for direct reduction of the iron ore using
hydrogen gas.

1.3.1.Specific Objectives
1) To determine the design requirements for the method of direct reduction of iron
ore using hydrogen gas.
2) To develop a detailed design of the method for direct reduction of iron ore using
hydrogen gas.
3) To carry out a process simulation of the detailed designed process

1.4. Scope

This project will majorly focus on designing a method for the direct reduction of iron
ores using hydrogen gas, serving as a forerunner to the creation of the necessary
technology to investigate the iron ores in Muko deposit in Kabale district and
systematically analyzing (Simulation) the effect of reducing carbon emissions into the
atmosphere and temperature on process characteristics of Muko deposit iron Ores

Significance

Through thorough research about the growing demand of iron and steel products
worldwide, the process used in the manufacturing of the needed products has a
negative impact to the environment through the harmful carbon emissions given off
during the process. In this regard, this study will analyze the blast furnace process that
is currently in use and access its negative effects on the environment. However,
having analyzed the effects of releasing carbon-monoxide into the atmosphere, the
study will present an alternative process of manufacturing iron and steel products
without releasing carbon emissions into the atmosphere thus minimizing the
greenhouse effect.

1.5. Justification

As the process of manufacturing iron and steel products in the country is on steady
progress to meet the customer consuming demand, there is releasing of harmful
carbon emissions into the atmosphere which with time result into extreme climate
changes leading into extended and prolonged droughts.

The most commonly used process in the manufacturing industries is the blast furnace
which is phasing out due to its negative environment impact. Hence, the development
of Direct Reduction Iron (DRI) technology utilizing Hydrogen as a reducing agent
would be a good step to a full-scale sustainable process since hydrogen can be
produced in an electrolyser run by hydroelectric power or solar power which are

3
green sources. Thus, the carbon emissions from the iron and steel manufacturing
processes will be eliminated from getting into the atmosphere.

CHAPTER 2

2. LITERATURE REVIEW

Direct reduction of iron is the removal of oxygen from iron ore or other iron bearing
materials in the solid state that is, without melting, as in the blast furnace
(Association, 2021). The reducing agents are carbon monoxide and hydrogen, coming
from reformed natural gas or coal. This process uses hydrogen gas in the reduction
process and instead of producing the harmful gas CO2, harmless water (equation 1) is
produced thus preventing the emissions of carbon into the atmosphere.

Fe2O3(s) + 3 H2(g)  2 Fe(s) + 3 H2O(g) (1)

2.1. Iron Ore

Iron ores are rocks (figure 3) from which metallic iron can be extracted. There are
four main types of iron ore deposit i.e., massive hematite, which is the most
commonly mined, magnetite, titanomagnetite, and pisolitic ironstone which vary in
color from dark grey, bright yellow, or deep purple to rusty red(Bhaskar et al., 2020).

Iron ores are normally found in the Muko deposits in Kabale district, Tororo and
Kisoro districts, which are not extracted. As per (UIA, 2021), iron and steel investing in
Uganda 2001, national demand for steel was estimated at 80,000 tonnes per year
while the current production is estimated at 7112 tonnes per year.

4
Figure 1: Shows the iron ore stones

2.2. Direct reduction rotary kiln technique using coal

This process was created to transform iron ore into metallic iron without melting the
raw components first. By using carbonaceous material found in non-cooking coal, the
metallic iron in this process is created by reducing iron oxide below the fusion
temperature of iron ore, which is 1535 degrees (Sohn et al., 2021). Since the reducing
agent and iron ore come into direct touch during the reduction process, direct reduced
iron (DRI) is frequently used to describe it. The raw materials used in the direct
reduction process include sized iron ore, dolomite and non-coking coal which are fed
at one end of the rotary kiln and heated by coal burners producing DRI
(IspatGuru, 2022)
. Air is then supplied to the kiln to initiate the combustion process and sustain the
reaction process.

The solid reducing agent used in the coal-based direct reduction method is non-coking
coal. High temperatures are necessary for the reaction. Coal has two functions in the
kiln: one is as a fuel to generate the necessary heat to bring the raw material up to the
required temperature, and the other is as a source of carbon for the reduction process
(Béchara et al., 2018). The reactions inside the kiln undergo several stages during the
reduction of iron ore to DRI as shown in the following equations 1-3 below.
C(s) + O2(g)  CO2(g) (1)

CO2(g) + C(s)  2CO(g) (2)

Fe2O3(s) + 3CO(g)  2Fe(s) + 3CO2(g) (3)

2.3. Direct reduction of iron ore using a furnace

According to (Spreitzer & Schenk, 2019) , 1.63 billion tons of crude steel are produced
globally, with the blast furnace and basic oxygen converter process (figure 1)
accounting for 73.7% of the total output. The chemical combination of iron and
oxygen in iron oxide is the raw material used to make iron and steel. Hematite and
magnetite are the ore's most prevalent mineral types (Yi et al., 2012) . The oxygen

5
atoms in the ore must be separated from the iron atoms via a procedure known as
reduction in order to produce iron. To achieve this separation, carbon, hydrogen, or
carbon monoxide are reacted with oxygen, leaving iron as a free metal
(Jack Robert Miller, 2010)
.

The majority of steel mills presently operate on the blast furnace concept and are
primarily powered by coal, coke, and coke oven gas, (Li et al., 2021). Sinter belt, blast
furnace, and converter operations are followed by each operating at extremely high
temperatures, which requires a lot of energy and emits a lot of CO 2. About 7% of the
world's anthropogenic CO2 emissions come from the steel sector. The goal of steel
mills is to lower CO2 emissions from the current level of (almost) 3000 Mton/year to
less than 500 Mton/year in order to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement and the
European Green Deal . The direct H2 reduction of crude iron ore powder has the
advantage of skipping the sintering stage, which is the main energy consumer and
source of CO2 emissions of the iron-making process, along with the blast furnace,
whereas the production of sponge iron from iron ore pellets is already commercially
used.

To create a sinter cake that can be loaded into the blast furnace, sintering is in fact
necessary. At a temperature between 1300 and 1480°C, it thermally agglomerates the
mixture of iron ore fines, recycled iron-making products, and coke. Coke serves as
both an energy source and a reducing agent in a blast furnace. As a result, the top gas
from the furnace leaves the furnace along with significant amounts of carbon
monoxide and carbon dioxide. Thus, skipping the sintering process will result in a 35–
40% reduction in overall energy use and CO2 emissions.

Figure 2:Blast furnace technology (Extraction of Iron | Metallurgy | Blast Furnace and Reactions, n.d.)

There is a need to find another suitable method or methods that can be used in the
production of iron and steel in order to minimize the effect of emitted carbon into the
atmosphere. In Uganda, the blast furnace method has been improving over time but is
still insufficient due to its carbon emissions into the atmosphere.

6
 2.4. Alternative strategies to cut carbon emissions into the atmosphere

One of the most significant uses of non-catalytic gas-solid reaction systems is the
direct reduction (DR) process of iron ore. Without smelting iron ore and using coke, it
is an alternate method to the traditional blast furnace iron production process
(Metolina et al., 2022). The most extensively used technology is MIDREX (Midland-
Ross Direct Iron Reduction), which accounts for over 80% of all DR-based output.
Among DR processes, shaft furnaces represent over 82% of the worlds DR iron
production, with two main processes being MIDREX(65%) and HYL-
ENERGION(17%) (Hamadeh et al., 2018) . On the other hand, worries about global
warming have sparked the creation of cleaner technologies (figure 2) in the
manufacturing sectors, with the aim of lowering CO2 emissions.

The second process is the direct reduction of iron ore in a shaft furnace operated with
hydrogen only. The third process is the melting of the carbon-free direct reduced iron
in an electric arc furnace to produce steel (Patisson & Mirgaux, 2020).

Figure 3: layout of new technology

However, significant changes must be made in the iron and steel industries if we are
to quickly reach the objectives of international treaties like the Paris Agreement and
the European Green Deal (Unfccc, 2015) , which call for drastically reducing CO 2
emissions by 55% until 2030 and reaching carbon neutrality by 2050. The DR
method, which uses H2 produced only by electrolysis as the reducing gas, is one of the
priorities. The reduction process is significantly more effective when H 2 is used, and
there are no CO2 emissions as a result. However, hydrogen production still demands
high energy consumption, a challenge that still needs to be overcome.

2.4.1.How to overcome high energy consumption in the production of

hydrogen
i. Reducing the elevated costs of production of hydrogen gas

ii. There is need to put up the lacking existing value chain and the need for
international standards.

7
 2.4.2.Properties of Hydrogen gas as a reducing agent
 Hydrogen has to give away electrons.

 gets oxidized and also causes the opposite reactant to get reduced by supplying
electrons.

 Tends to consist of atoms with a low electronegativity (the ability of an atom or

molecule to attract bonding electrons)
(Uses Of Hydrogen - Properties & Its Reactions with Videos, n.d.)
.

2.4.3.Design parameters to consider during the development of the technology

to be used in the direct reduction using hydrogen gas
With reference to the journal (Morris, 2001)he design parameters are as shown below:

Parameter Lump iron ore

Density(tm-3)

Bulk 1.6-1.9

Apparent 3.5

Porosity (%) 50

Normal size(mm) 6-35

Table 1: shows the design parameters to consider during the development of the technology

2.4.4.Advantages of alternative strategies to cut carbon emissions over the

blast furnace and rotary kiln technique
 Direct reduction processes reduce iron ore in its solid state by the use of
hydrogen as reducing agents
 They have a comparative advantage of low capital costs
 low emissions of carbon into the atmosphere
 Retains the chemical purity of the iron ore from which it is produced (Typical
ranges of DRI chemistry are 90–94% total iron, 83–89% metallic iron, 6.5–9%
iron oxide, 0.8–2.5% carbon, 2.8–6% gangue, 0.005–0.09% phosphorus, and
0.001–0.03% sulfur) (Morris, 2001).
 Production flexibility over the BF process.
 Improved product quality. Compared to scrap, there is a very small amount of
residue. Depending on the iron ore quality, the Electric Arc Furnace (EAF)
may quickly charge it up to 100% by itself or when combined with hot metal.

8
 2.5. Process simulation on the technology of reducing the iron ore using
hydrogen gas

According to (da Costa et al., 2014) , simulated the reduction in a shaft furnace using
hydrogen as the reductant. They developed and validated a kinetic model for pellets
based on the laboratory results for reduction of small oxide particles
(Shams & Moazeni, 2015)
. By applying the kinetic model in a model for a shaft reactor, the metallization
degrees and the influences of different parameters were predicted. They concluded
that the industrial hydrogen-based reduction process is feasible. A 2D model for
reduction of iron ore pellets by H2-CO mixtures was developed by
(Kazemi et al., 2017)
. They applied the shrinking unreacted core model with 3 layers and the
reduction reactions at the interfaces were considered reversible.

CHAPTER 3

3. METHODOLOGY

 Design requirements for the method of direct reduction of iron ore using
hydrogen gas
 Conceptual and detailed design development
 Process simulation of the detailed design
 Meshing and numerical solution

3.1. Determining the design requirements for the method of direct reduction
of iron ore using hydrogen gas

3.1.1.Data collection
The data collection methods will include the following: Field work, interviews with
the workers at the site, observing the method being used and Literature review
3.1.2.Field work
This will involve interaction with the people at Muko iron ore deposit in Kabale
district, to get to know how the method they are using currently work, the challenges
they have faced with the method, the materials used, availability of the materials and
the quality of iron produced using the same criteria. This will enable much in coming-
up with the solution which will be addressing the challenges that will be stated.

3.1.3.Collection of information and data from the site through interviews

Basing on my project, several visits will be paid to Muko site in Kabale district to
gather information and data on the method they are using currently, the materials used
in the process, the raw materials used in the method, the outputs as products among
others. While carrying out these activities, different approaches to the concerned

9
personnel will be employed such as interviews, using questionnaires and observations.
Having obtained this information, it will be used identify the loopholes in the
technology they are using currently and hence pave a way of improving on that
technology by introducing a new method reducing iron ores using hydrogen gas.

3.1.4.Literature Review
From using the internet, several platforms will be visited including Google scholar,
Scorpus.com among others to get several PDFs of information on how the methods
that are in use, being utilized, their products and the negative effect they have on the
environment. All this information shall be obtained through massive and vast reading
from all the sources available to be able to identify the gaps and loopholes that will be
based on for improvements in areas of iron ore reduction in steel and iron
manufacturing plants.

3.1.5.Analyzing data
The data collected will be analyzed in order to know the composition of iron ore used,
challenges faced, the outputs from the method being used, availability of raw
materials, the size of the iron-ore lump that will easily react with hydrogen gas. The
table below shows the physical and chemical properties of the fine Fe2O3 particles.

Particle property Value

Mean particle size(µm) 10-15

Particle density(kg/m3) 4800

Shape Non-spherical, sphericity ≈ 0.85

Chemical composition Iron 68%, Oxygen 30%

Table 2: shows the particle properties and their corresponding values

3.2. Developing a conceptual and detailed design of the direct reduction of

iron ore in a shaft furnace using hydrogen gas

3.2.1.Conceptual Design Introduction

The direct reduction (DR) of iron ore, usually followed by electric arc steel-
making will be an alternative route to the blast furnace. An attractive feature of
DR, compared to the blast furnace reduction, is its considerably lower CO 2
emissions, which will be 40% to 60% lower for the DR-electric furnace route.
But for my project, I will consider the Midrex process which as shown below.

10
Figure 4: MIDREX Direct Reduction of iron ore method (Hamadeh et al., 2018)

In a DR shaft furnace, a charge of lump iron ore will be loaded into the top of the
furnace and allowed to descend, by gravity, through a reducing gas. The reducing
gas will be comprised of hydrogen and carbon monoxide and will be obtained by
the catalytic reforming of natural gas, flowing upwards, through the ore bed.
Reduction of the iron oxides will occur in the upper section of the furnace, at
temperatures up to 950 oC.

A transition section will be found below the reduction section; this section will be
of sufficient length to separate the reduction section from the cooling section
allowing an independent control of both sections. The solid product, called direct
reduced iron (DRI), will be cooled in the lower part of the furnace, down to
approximately 50 oC, prior to being discharged.

3.2.2.Mathematical design of the model

3.2.2.1. Principle
The reduction of hematite ore to iron will occur via two intermediate oxides,
namely, magnetite and wustite (iron III oxide) and by gaseous reactant H 2. The
reduction reactions occur in three steps when temperatures are over 570 oC
(equations 1-3) and two steps when temperatures are below 570 oC (equations 4-5)
and they are as shown below (Ghalandari & Rafsanjani, 2019):

3Fe2O3(s) + H2(g)  2Fe3O4(s) + H2O(g) (1)

Fe3O4(s) + H2(g)  3FeO(s) + H2O(g) (2)

FeO(s) + H2(g)  Fe(s) + H2O(g) (3)

Fe3O4(s) + 4H2(g)  Fe(s) + 4H2O(g) (4)

Fe2O3(s) + 3H2(g)  2Fe(s) + 3H2O(g) (5)

11
 Methane reforming and water gas shift reactions will also occur in the gas phase,
based on the composition of reducing gas and temperature, through the following
reaction below:

CH4(g) + H2O(g)  CO(g) + 3H2(g)

Thus, the produced carbon monoxide gas will react with more water producing
carbon dioxide gas which am trying to eliminate in this process.

The model (figure 5) itself will be two dimensional and in steady-state. This
model will be based on numerical solution of local mass, energy and momentum
balances, using finite volume method. The geometry in the reduction and
transition sections will be cylindrical while conical in the cooling section
corresponding to the geometry of the shaft furnaces and will be necessary to
describe correctly the lateral gas feed and outlet cooling gas, as shown
below
(Schematic Representation of the REDUCTOR Model, from the Reactor Scale... | Download Scientific Diagram, n
.

Figure 5: 2D representation of the REDUCTOR model technology

The solid load will be fed from the top of the reactor to form a moving bed of
solid particles composed of spherical iron ore that descend by gravity. The iron
ore pellet diameter (dp) will be assumed to be unique and unchanging during the
reduction process and the initial pellet composition will be known.

The gas phase will be composed of six species: H 2, CO, H2O, CO2, N2 and CH4.
The reducing gas will be injected from the sidewall, at certain height (z) which
then will move upward against the solid flow before finally exiting the furnace at
the top. The temperature and composition of this reducing gas will be known. The
cooling gas exits the furnace, through the wall in the upper part of the conical
section. The temperatures of the solid and gas are different and vary, depending
on their position (r, z) within the furnace.

3.2.3.Reaction Rates
3.2.3.1. Iron oxide reduction
The reaction rate will be used as a function of the local reduction conditions
(temperature and gas composition), inside the reactor. Will use the law of additive

12
 reaction times which considers the different resistances (chemical reaction,
diffusion, and external transfer) involved in series. Therefore, the time that will be
required to attain a certain conversion will approximately be the sum of the
characteristic times thus helping in the reduction simulation of iron ore by H2.

3.3. Process simulation of the detail designed method

The modeling of a shaft furnace, simulating the reduction of iron ore by hydrogen
gas, will be a powerful tool for defining optimal operating conditions. Use of such
a model will lead to maximization of conversion or minimization of energy
consumption, among other effects capable of reducing carbon dioxide emissions.
The dimensions, materials and components to be used in the design and
simulation will be established.

3.3.1.Material Selection
Different materials for the design of the shaft furnace reductor will be chosen
depending on the heat, that the reductor will be subjected too and the material that
will be introduced into it, the temperatures of melting the material and the time of
functioning. This will contribute on the process of designing and simulating a
method that will perform the job it’s designed for.
The design parameters that will be considered are the entry and exit temperature
from the reductor, the wall material and wall thickness, size of iron ore to be
introduced into the reductor, the quality of hydrogen gas, and the amount of
hydrogen needed for complete reduction.
3.3.2.Method performance testing using a software
Having determined the design parameters and the material selection, the reductor
and its parts will be drawn in Solid works software and assembled to get a
complete whole. The same software will be used to carry out the simulation
process to confirm that the assembled shaft furnace reductor will actually perform
the job its being designed for under all conditions.
The reductor is a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)-type and will be a 2D
model. The CFD and thermal simulations will be performed to be able to confirm
that the designed method will be able to handle the work under severe conditions.
Solid-works software will be used because its readily available and improves the
design efficiency. The whole process of simulation shall be carried out as shown
below:
 Having assembled all the necessary parts, the simulation feature shall be clicked
and the software will take the assembled part into the simulation environment.
 Clicking on new study will follow
 Selecting general simulation and then accepting by clicking the green tick
 Selecting the points on the assembled parts of the reductor joining different parts
will be done.

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 Different entry and exit temperatures, wall thickness, wall material, and the
material load entering the assembly and the temperature of the exiting HDI will
be entered.
 The simulation will then be run to obtain the result

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4. APPENDIX

4.1. Appendix 1: Time Line for the Flow of Activities

This chat will help to predict how much time will be spent on every activity in the six
months of my project about design and simulation of the direct reduction of iron ores
using hydrogen gas. It will clearly identify the general of activities from November,
2022 to May, 2023.

Different months of the year have time lengths; this Gantt chat shows flow of
activities for five months’ period. However, month names have been indicated on this
chat, each horizontal bar represents each month from November that is timed for
choosing project titles, subsequent activities with their time frame as shown until
project presentation in May.

A Gantt chat showing project activities against time taken in months

Project
title

Project
proposa
l
writing
Proposa
l
present
ation
Field
study
Method
design
Method
simulati
on
Report
writing
Final
yearpre
sentatio
n
Schedul 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4
e days
and November December January February March April May
months
Table 3: shows the Gantt chart showing the activities during the project proposal writing

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 4.2. Appendix 2: Budget

This section shows approximate expenses on different activities in execution of

this project. It includes transport to visiting the iron ore rich areas in Kabale,
getting the iron ore sample, carrying out laboratory tests on the iron ore,
experiment on the iron ore to check if water produced is harmless. It is assumed
that all materials to use such as a test tubes and reagents do exist.

ESTIMATED BUDGET

Item no Item name Quantity Unit cost (Ugx) Total cost (Ugx)

1 Transport 2 50,000 100,000

2 Consultation fees 1 20,000 20,000

3 Experiments 1 150,000 150,000

4 Software installation 1 15,000 15,000

5 Software training 1 20,000 20,000

6 Miscellaneous 1 13,000 13,000

Total 318,000

Table 4: shows the budget of the activities

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