Foaming behaviour and reaction kinetics of FeO reduction in CaO-SiO2-FeO slag by solid carbon: a factorial design approach

Abstract

The present study is aimed at quantitative understanding of the effect of experiment variables like temperature, FeO concentration and basicity of slag on the foaming as well as initial reaction rate (d alpha/dt) during reduction of FeO in molten slag by solid carbon. The foamed slag height has been estimated by deducting the initial slag height from foamed slag height obtained experimentally. The initial reaction rate (d alpha/dt) was estimated by chemical analysis of slag samples taken in a regular interval of time during reduction experiment. The factorial design of experiments has been employed to quantify the effect of individual parameters and their interactions on foaming and initial reaction rate (d alpha/dt). The experiments were carried out with temperature ranging from 1400 to 1600 degrees C, FeO concentration from 20 to 40 % and basicity from 1.0 to 1.8. A linear regression equation was developed and used for understanding the influence of these parameters and their interactions.