The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Oct. 07, 2003
Filed:
Mar. 28, 2001
Shuzo Ito, Osaka, JP;
Yasuhiro Tanigaki, Osaka, JP;
Shoichi Kikuchi, Osaka, JP;
Osamu Tsuge, Osaka, JP;
Isao Kobayashi, Osaka, JP;
Keisuke Honda, Osaka, JP;
Koji Tokuda, Osaka, JP;
Hidekazu Okamoto, Osaka, JP;
Midrex International B.V. Zurich Branch, Zurich, SE;
Abstract
The present invention is directed to a method of producing granular metallic iron, including: heating a formed raw material comprising a carbonaceous reductant and a substance containing iron oxide in a reduction melting furnace to subject the iron oxide contained in the formed raw material to solid-state reduction; and carburizing reduced iron resulting from the solid-state reduction with carbon contained in the carbonaceous in the formed raw material and causing resulting molten metallic iron to coalesce into the granular metallic iron, wherein an atmospheric gas present in proximity to the formed raw material in the carburizing and melting step has a reduction degree of not less than 0.5. The present invention is also directed to a method of producing metallic iron, including forming a deposit layer containing slag produced in the reduction melting process on hearth refractories, thereby protecting the hearth refractories while producing the metallic iron. The present invention is further directed to a device for supplying an auxiliary raw material to a hearth of a moving hearth type reduction melting furnace adapted to produce metallic iron, the device including a supply duct vertically connecting with a ceiling portion of the furnace.