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:
Sep. 06, 2011
Filed:
Mar. 11, 2004
Koji Tokuda, Hyogo, JP;
Shoichi Kikuchi, Hyogo, JP;
Osamu Tsuge, Hyogo, JP;
Kabushiki Kaisha Kobe Seiko Sho Kobe Steel, Ltd., Kobe-shi, JP;
Abstract
It is an object of the present invention to provide a technique for solving the following problem by properly controlling the flow of gas such as air (oxidizing gas): a problem that the degree of reduction cannot be increased due to the air entering a feedstock-feeding zone or a discharging zone. The technique is a method for producing reduced iron. The method includes a feedstock-feeding step of feeding a feedstock containing a carbonaceous reductant and an iron oxide-containing material into a rotary hearth furnace, a heating/reducing step of heating the feedstock to reduce iron oxide contained in the feedstock into reduced iron, a melting step of melting the reduced iron, a cooling step of cooling the molten reduced iron, and a discharging step of discharging the cooled reduced iron, these steps being performed in that order in the direction that a hearth is moved. The furnace includes flow rate-controlling partitions, arranged therein, for controlling the flow of furnace gas and the furnace gas in the cooling step is allowed to flow in the direction of the movement of the hearth with the partitions.