Claims
- 1. In a process for improving the rate of metal production and FeO utilization which contains Fe-C metal alloy droplets submerged in an FeO-containing slag in which a charge build-up occurs in the slag at slag/Fe-C metal alloy interfaces and the charge build-up is discharged by means of an electron conductor, the improvement comprising connecting the electron conductor between the Fe-C metal alloy droplets and a gas at a gas-slag interface, said gas having an oxygen partial pressure of at least about 0.01 atmosphere.
- 2. The process of claim 1, wherein the oxygen partial pressure is at least about 0.1 atmosphere.
- 3. The process of claim 1, wherein the oxygen partial pressure of about 0.21 atmosphere.
- 4. The process of claim 1, wherein the oxygen partial pressure is about 1 atmosphere.
- 5. The process of claim 1, where the FeO-containing slag is located in a chamber immediately below the gas-slag interface.
- 6. The process of claim 1, wherein the slag comprises CaO--SiO.sub.2 --FeO-Al.sub.2 O.sub.3.
- 7. The process of claim 1 wherein the slag contains less than about 10 wt % FeO.
- 8. The process of claim 1 wherein the slag contains less than about 5 wt % FeO.
- 9. The process of claim 1, wherein the slag contains less than about 10 wt % transition-metal oxides.
- 10. The process of claim 1, wherein the slag contains less than about 5 wt % transition-metal oxides.
- 11. The process of claim 1, wherein the FeO-containing slag is located in a chamber immediately below a reducing atmosphere.
- 12. The process of claim 11, wherein the gas-slag interface is located above a second reactor containing a second slag and there is an electron conductor between the first reactor and the second reactor which permits O.sup.2- formed at the gas-slag interface to discharge the charge build-up at the slag/Fe-C metal alloy interface in the FeO-containing slag below the reducing atmosphere.
- 13. The process of claim 12, wherein the second chamber contains a slag.
- 14. A method for improving the rate of metal production and FeO utilization in a process that uses a first chamber containing Fe-C metal alloy droplets submerged in an FeO-containing slag and a reducing atmosphere covering the slag; and a second chamber containing a second slag and a gas-slag interface and an oxidizing atmosphere above said second slag; wherein the second chamber is located adjacent to the first chamber and is electrically connected to the first chamber by means of the electron conductor; and wherein a charge build-up occurs between the slag in the first chamber and the Fe-C metal alloy droplets in the first chamber, said method comprising the step of:
- (a) contacting the charge build-up with an electron conductor that is connected from the slag in the first chamber to the gas-slag interface in the second chamber to discharge the charge buildup, said oxidizing atmosphere having an oxygen partial pressure of at least about 0.01 atmosphere.
- 15. The method of claim 14, wherein the gas-slag interface has an oxygen partial pressure of at least about 0.1 atmosphere.
- 16. The method of claim 14, wherein the gas-slag interface has an oxygen partial pressure of about 0.21 atmosphere.
- 17. The method of claim 14, wherein the gas-slag interface has an oxygen partial pressure of about 1 atmosphere.
- 18. The method of claim 14, wherein the FeO-containing slag contains less than about 5 wt % FeO and less than about 5 wt % transition-metal oxides.
GOVERNMENT RIGHTS
The United States Government has rights in this invention by virtue of U.S. Department of Energy Grant No. DE-FC07-89ID12847.
US Referenced Citations (1)
Number |
Name |
Date |
Kind |
5314524 |
Pal et al. |
May 1994 |
|