A process for processing metal ore includes: reducing a metal ore, particularly a metallic oxide, in a blast furnace shaft; producing furnace gas containing CO.sub.2, in the blast furnace shaft; discharging the furnace gas from the blast furnace shaft; directing at least a portion of the furnace gas directly or indirectly into a CO.sub.2-converter; and converting the CO.sub.2 contained in the furnace gas into an aerosol consisting of a carrier gas and C-particles in the CO.sub.2-converter in the presence of a stoichiometric surplus of C; directing at least a first portion of the aerosol from the CO.sub.2-converter into the blast furnace shaft; and introducing H.sub.2O into the blast furnace shaft. By virtue of the reaction C+H.sub.2O.fwdarw.CO.sub.2+2H, nascent hydrogen is produced in the blast furnace which causes rapid reduction of the metal ore. The speed of reduction of the metal ore is thus increased, and it is possible to increase either the throughput capacity of the blast furnace or to reduce the size of the blast furnace. An aerosol in the form of a fluid is easily introducible into the blast furnace shaft.

Methods, apparatuses, and systems to collect fine particle coal are provided herein. For example, these methods, apparatuses, and systems may be incorporated into a coal processing plant to collect a portion of the fine particle coal that is normally lost in the system. A fine particle coal also is provided. The fine particle coal may have a particle size of 1000 ?m or smaller and a water content of from about 5% to about 20%, by weight.

The present disclosure relates to a method for producing steel in an integrated metallurgical plant comprising at least one direct reduction reactor for directly reducing iron ore to give sponge iron, at least one electric furnace for melting the sponge iron to give pig iron or crude steel, at least one blast furnace for smelting iron ore to give pig iron, and at least one converter for refining pig iron to give crude steel. In accordance with the invention, the process gas discharged from the direct reduction reactor is admixed at least partly to the hot blast air and/or at least partly to an optional charging material, said air and/or said material being blown into the blast furnace.

Method for producing pulverized coal, the method comprising the steps of heating a drying gas, preferably an inert gas, in a hot gas generator (26) to a predefined temperature; feeding the heated drying gas into a pulverizer (20); introducing raw coal into the pulverizer (20), the pulverizer (20) grinding the raw coal to pulverized coal; collecting a mixture of drying gas and pulverized coal from the pulverizer (20) and feeding the mixture to a filter (34), the filter (34) separating the dried pulverized coal from the drying gas; and collecting the dried pulverized coal for further use and feeding part of the drying gas from the filter to a recirculation line (38) for returning at least part of the drying gas to the hot gas generator (26). According to an important aspect of the present invention, the method comprises the further step of controlling an exit temperature of the mixture of drying gas and pulverized coal exiting the pulverizer (20) by controlling a volume of water injected into the heated drying gas before feeding it into the pulverizer (20).

A method is provided for operating a blast furnace by blowing at least a solid reducing material and a combustible gas into the furnace through tuyeres with a lance inserted into a blowpipe, wherein a tube-bundle type lance obtained by bundling a plurality of blowing tubes is used and when only a solid reducing material or two kinds of a solid reducing material and a combustible gas or three kinds of a solid reducing material, a combustible gas and a gaseous reducing material is simultaneously blown into an inside of the blast furnace through a tube for blowing the solid reducing material, a tube for blowing the combustible gas and a tube for blowing the gaseous reducing material in the tube-bundle type lance, two or more tube-bundle type lances are inserted into the blowpipe to approximate their front ends to each other and blowing is performed so that the respective blowout streams interfere with each other in the blowpipe.

To provide a method for operating a blast furnace with which the combustion efficiency of a solid fuel, such as pulverized coal, is improved, thereby making it possible to improve productivity and reduce CO.sub.2 emissions. Pulverized coal and LNG are blown from an upstream lance configured by a double tube, and oxygen is blown from a downstream lance on the downstream side in a hot air blast direction, so that oxygen used for preceding combustion of the LNG is supplied from the downstream lance, and the pulverized coal whose temperature has been increased by the combustion of the LNG is combusted along with the supplied oxygen. When a direction perpendicular to the hot air blast direction is designated as 0 , and a downstream direction and an upstream direction therefrom in the hot air blast direction are designated as positive and negative, respectively, a blowing direction of the oxygen from the downstream lance with respect to the blast direction ranges from 30 to +45 , and a blowing position of the oxygen from the downstream lance with reference to a position at which the upstream lance is inserted into a blast pipe ranges from 160 to 200 in terms of a blast pipe circumferential direction angle.

To provide a method for operating a blast furnace with which the combustion efficiency of a solid fuel, such as pulverized coal, is improved, thereby making it possible to improve productivity and reduce CO.sub.2 emissions. Pulverized coal and oxygen are blown from an upstream lance 4 configured by a double tube, and LNG is blown from a downstream lance 6 on the downstream side in a hot air blast direction, so that oxygen to be used for combustion of the LNG is supplied from the upstream lance 4, and the pulverized coal whose temperature has been increased by the combustion of the LNG is combusted along with the supplied oxygen or oxygen in an air blast. When a direction perpendicular to the hot air blast direction is designated as 0, and a downstream direction and an upstream direction therefrom in the hot air blast direction are designated as positive and negative, respectively, a blowing direction of the LNG from the downstream lance 6 with respect to the blast direction ranges from 30 to +45, and a blowing position of the LNG from the downstream lance 6 with reference to a position at which the upstream lance 4 is inserted into a blast pipe 2 ranges from 160 to 200 in terms of a blast pipe circumferential direction angle.

A method of operating a blast furnace by blowing a pulverized coal at an amount of not less than 150 kg/tp from tuyeres through a lance into a blast furnace, wherein when the operation is performed under a condition that lump coke charged from a furnace top has a strength defined in JIS K2151 (DI.sup.150.sub.15) of not more than 87%, the pulverized coal blown through the tuyere contains not more than 60 mass % as a weight ratio of coal having a particle size of not more than 74 m and has an average volatile matter of not more than 25 mass %, and a blast temperature blown through the tuyere is not higher than 1100 C., oxygen is simultaneously blown into the furnace with the blowing of the pulverized coals through the lance and a gas having an oxygen concentration of 60 vol %-97 vol % is used as a carrier gas for the blowing of the pulverized coal.

A method of operating a blast furnace includes two or more lances that inject reducing agents from a tuyere; injecting a solid reducing agent and a flammable reducing agent from different lances; and disposing the lances so that an axial line that extends from an end of the lance that injects the solid reducing agent and is the axial line of the lance that injects the solid reducing agent and an axial line that extends from an end of the lance that injects the flammable reducing agent and is the axial line of the lance that injects the flammable reducing agent cross each other, and so that a main flow of the solid reducing agent injected and a main flow of the flammable reducing agent injected overlap.

A method for producing blast-furnace blowing coal to be blown through a tuyere into the interior of the blast-furnace body of a blast furnace, wherein: the composition and melting point of the ash from the coal are analyzed in advance; the composition of the blast-furnace slag is analyzed in advance; the blast-furnace slag contains more calcium oxide than the coal ash does; and the coal and the blast-furnace slag are mixed, on the basis of the composition and melting point of the coal ash and the composition of the blast-furnace slag, and in a manner such that the amount of calcium oxide contained in a quaternary system phase diagram including silicon dioxide, magnesium oxide, aluminum oxide and calcium oxide, which are the principal components of the coal ash and the blast-furnace slag, causes the melting point of the ash to be 1400 C. or higher.