That allows us to study the behavior of the liquid metal and coke particles under various conditions. "With a model like this, we can really get a look into the furnace, which is impossible for the real reactor. "Studies like this increase our understanding of the blast furnace, which can help us improve the blast furnace process in the near future, and make it more sustainable," Nijssen explains. The mutual interaction between the solid and liquid phases was found to be of great importance. A series of simulations of a 5- and 10-meter diameter blast furnace hearth was conducted, in which the particle and liquid iron movement were observed under various circumstances. With the numerical model verified through lab-size simulations, Nijssen scaled-up towards the large size of the industrial blast furnace. "Additionally, the computer model allowed to visualize the flow of the liquid, which was not possible in experiments." "The newly developed simulation technique was used to recreate this system numerically, in order to further verify the accuracy of the model," says Nijssen. The behavior of the bed was observed under various conditions and alternating liquid levels, and MPT was used to investigate the movement of a single particle within the dense bed. Nijssen constructed a lab-scale model of the blast furnace hearth, in which room-temperature water and hollow particles were used to represent the liquid iron and carbon particles. In this technique, sensors measuring magnetic field strength are used to track the movement of a single magnetic particle within a system of non-magnetic particles. Next, Nijssen used a novel experimental technique termed Magnetic Particle Tracking (MPT) to investigate liquid-solid systems. He compared this new model with experiments on drinking water softening reactors, and found the model predicts the liquid-solid behavior well. First, an existing computer simulation technique, which was previously mostly used for gas-solid systems, was extended to handle the heavy and viscous liquid metal. He used both numerical and experimental methods to investigate this complex system. Lab-scale model of the blast furnace hearth "This section of the blast furnace is especially interesting, as the flow of liquid metal damages the heat-resistant walls, thereby determining the lifetime of the furnace," says Nijssen. Nijssen focussed in his research on the bottom section of the furnace (also known as the hearth), where the liquid iron is collected and tapped, and a bed of unreacted carbon particles floats in this bath of liquid metal. This is mostly due to the extremely high temperature and harsh conditions inside the furnace, which make any internal measurements impossible. Despite its enormous economic impact, much of the working of blast furnaces remains unknown.
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