Midrex Technologies, Inc.

Travis Wright

Brian William Voelker

Haruyasu Michishita

Robert B Cheeley

Steve Montague

A shaft furnace for producing metallic direct reduced iron (DRI) from iron-containing pellets or lumps and reducing gas disposed therein, including: a circumferential outer wall defining a top interior reducing zone, a middle interior transition zone, and a bottom interior cooling zone, wherein the iron-containing pellets or lumps travel downwards through the top interior reducing zone, the middle interior transition zone, and the bottom interior cooling zone as the iron-containing pellets or lumps encounter the upward-flowing reducing gas and one or more other gases; and a flow diverter disposed along a centerline of the circumferential outer wall including a convex-upwards upper tapering section disposed in the middle transition zone defined by the circumferential outer wall coupled to a convex-downwards lower tapering section disposed in the bottom cooling zone defined by the circumferential outer wall.

Direct reduction process and shaft furnace utilizing an extended flow diverter cone

A process for producing reducing gas for use in the production of direct reduced iron (DRI) and fuel gas for use in a steel mill, including: compressing a coke oven gas (COG) stream in a compressor; passing the compressed coke oven gas stream through an activated charcoal bed to remove tars from the compressed coke oven gas stream; separating a hydrogen-rich gas stream from the compressed cleaned coke oven gas stream using a pressure swing absorption unit; providing the hydrogen-rich gas stream to a direct reduction shaft furnace as reducing gas; and providing a remaining gas stream from the pressure swing absorption unit to a steel mill as fuel gas. Both once-through and recycle options are presented. Optionally, basic oxygen furnace gas (BOFG) is added to the reducing gas.

Methods and systems for producing direct reduced iron and steel mill fuel gas using coke oven gas and basic oxygen furnace gas

The present invention provides a combination reforming/reducing shaft furnace for the production of direct reduced iron that utilizes one or more burden uniformity enhancers, such as one or more rotating/reciprocating mixing shafts, one or more stationary flow aids, one or more wall structures/variations, one or more agitators, or the like for ensuring that reforming and reducing in the shaft furnace take place evenly across the width of and throughout the depth of the burden in the shaft furnace.

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Charlotte, NC, United States of America

Travis Wright