A new approach for reducing energy consumption in thermal plasma processing of materials in a moving bed reactor

Abstract

Thermal plasma technology is emerging as one of the eco-friendly processes for metallurgical applications due to stringent restriction on pollution & disposal of effluents, especially involving chemical routes. However, the major limitation of thermal plasma process is its high electrical power consumption, which makes it economically non-competitive especially, in countries where power is costlier. In course of the present study a new approach and process have been developed using a moving bed thermal plasma reactor by which electrical energy consumption can be reduced considerably. A moving bed reactor was designed and fabricated based on optimized parameters like plasma power, time of melting obtained in a static bed reactor. The dependence of the experimental parameters viz. power and speed on energy consumption and yield along with X-ray diffraction and chemical analysis of the stag is reported. The results clearly indicate the necessity of a moving bed type plasma reactor for minimizing energy consumption for producing high quality slag and high value iron from pre-reduced ilmenite.