Catalytic combustion of pulverized coal injected into a blast furnace and its industrial test

Pulverized coals are widely used by injection into the blast furnaces in order to replace expensive cokes. In this paper, a new catalytic combustion promoter, containing manganese dioxide with other oxides (or carbonates) of rare earth metals and alkali earth metals, was developed to enhance the combustion of pulverized coal. The effects of addition amount on the ignition temperature and the combustion efficiency were investigated. With more promoters added, the ignition temperature dropped, whilst the combustion efficiency increased significantly. Industrial test showed that, with the addition of 0.4% of the promoter, the coke consumption reduced to 26.7 kg/tFe (equivalent to 7.5 million US dollars per blast furnace per year), and the carbon contents in the fly ash dropped to from 43.1% to 32.4%, which suggests great economic and environmental benefits.