Abstract
Iron carbide is a new material employed in steelmaking. This material is produced by gas–solid reactions in a temperature region lower than for conventional sponge iron. An equilibrium reactor performance analysis has been conducted to define limiting operating conditions with respect to temperature and gas phase composition for a process conducted at a fixed pressure. The configuration of the system incorporates two inlet streams, one composed of the solids feed (iron oxide) and the other of a CH2–H2 gas mixture. The outlet streams are composed of the equilibrated gas mixture and three solids: iron carbide with infinitesimal amounts of both unconverted iron oxide and solid carbon. The predictions agree with those reported in recent patents.
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