Hydrogen Based Direct Iron Ore Reduction Plant Simulation

The current work and paper is based on a new iron production route which uses iron ore fines direct reduction. This technology was invented by ENRAG and PRIMETALS and is in ongoing development by Primetals Technology. It is called HYFOR. This new direct reduction technology uses iron ore fines instead of pellets and is therefore more energy efficient and uses cheaper ore material compared to state-of-the-art technologies. Via a collaborative research project, ENRAG developed the fundamentals of a fully transient simulation engine for the operation of a future HYFOR plant. The simulation engine consists of all process relevant parts including the reduction agent production (hydrogen), the ore preheater, or in case of magnetite pre-oxidation, the reduction section as well as all necessary bunkers and ducts.

The model can fully calculate all phenomena of transient behavior during start up, load change, and shut down of the reduction process. This also includes all partial transient energy- and mass storage processes in the plant. The current contribution consists of the model development and first findings on the first prototype plant currently being built. Based on the model, different sub processes can be optimized and future industrial size plants can be designed and constructed based on the findings of this digital twin.