Method and apparatus for producing direct reduced iron (DRI) powder or molten iron from iron ore fines by mixing said iron ore fines with hydrogen and oxygen and igniting the mixture in a flame reactor with flame temperatures controlled to produce solid iron powder or molten iron.

An apparatus for manufacturing molten iron includes: an iron ore-mixing/pre-reducing furnace receiving and mixing natural iron ore and oxidized iron ore to form a mixture, and heating or pre-reducing the mixture using a reaction gas to form a pre-heated or pre-reduced iron ore; an iron ore reduction furnace receiving the pre-heated or pre-reduced iron ore iron ore and reducing the pre-heated or pre-reduced iron ore using a reduction gas to form a reduced iron ore and produce the reaction gas; a molten gasification furnace receiving coal and the reduced iron ore and producing molten iron and the reduction gas; and an iron ore oxidizing-burning furnace receiving part of the reduced iron ore discharged from the iron ore reduction furnace and oxidizing the received reduced iron ore to produce the oxidized iron ore. The oxidized iron ore is supplied to the iron ore-mixing/pre-reducing furnace.

The invention relates to a direct-fired heating method and to a facility for implementing same, According to said method, a load is heated in a furnace with heat generated by burning fuel with an oxidant; the smoke generated is evacuated from the furnace, the evacuated smoke containing residual heat energy; residual heat energy is recovered from the evacuated smoke and introduced into a synthesis reactor wherein syngas is produced; and at least part of the syngas is burned in the furnace in order to heat the load.

A process for reducing metal ore may include: carrying out a reaction between a stream of carbon dioxide and a stream of at least one hydrocarbon, at pressure greater than or equal to 0.5 atmospheres (atm) and less than or equal to 100 atm and at temperature greater than or equal to 800 C. and less than or equal to 1,350 C., to produce a reducing gaseous stream comprising at least H.sub.2, CO, CO.sub.2, and water vapor; and/or reducing at least one metal ore using the reducing gaseous stream so as to obtain at least one reduced metal material and at least one exhausted gaseous stream comprising at least CO.sub.2 and water vapor.

The disclosure discloses a method of operating an electric arc furnace, the method comprising capturing, from at least one facility of a steel mill, a heated metallurgical gas comprising water and carbon monoxide; conducting, by a reactor supply line, said metallurgical gas to a reactor; transforming, by a treatment of said metallurgical gas within said reactor, the carbon monoxide and water into hydrogen and carbon dioxide according to a water-gas shift reaction; and subsequently separating said hydrogen by a separation device. The method is characterized in that it further comprises providing an iron-bearing material, which comprises iron mainly in the form of iron oxide, to the electric arc furnace; at least partially melting the iron-bearing material to obtain a molten bath; conducting, by a furnace supply line, said hydrogen to the electric arc furnace, which is arranged downstream of the furnace supply line; and injecting, by a plurality of hydrogen injection devices, said hydrogen into said electric arc furnace, such that said hydrogen reacts as a reducing agent for reducing iron oxide in the molten bath during a smelting operation of the electric arc furnace.

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.

A system for reducing ore includes a hydrogen supply unit configured to supply hydrogen, a furnace configured to reduce the ore using the supplied hydrogen, and a hydrogen recovery unit configured to recover hydrogen from an exhaust gas that is exhausted from the furnace.

A process and plant for conversion of a feed hydrocarbon stream to liquid hydrocarbon products in a small scale GTL plant, comprising the use of a cryogenic air separation unit (ASU), optionally together with vacuum pressure swing adsorption (VPSA), an autothermal reformer (ATR) or catalytic partial oxidation (CPO), and pressure swing adsorption (PSA) unit to produce a synthesis gas for downstream Fischer-Tropsch (FT) synthesis for production of liquid hydrocarbons.

Producing direct reduced iron (DRI) having chemically-combined carbon includes providing DRI at a temperature above 400 C., providing a first gas stream including hydrogen and carbon monoxide, passing the first gas stream through a methane forming process to yield a second gas stream containing a higher concentration of methane than the first gas stream; and contacting the second gas stream with the DRI. A system for producing the DRI includes a vessel for containing DRI at a temperature above 400 C., a methane forming reactor containing a catalyst bed for producing methane from a first gas stream containing hydrogen and carbon monoxide, a first conduit to feed a gas stream including hydrogen and carbon monoxide to the methane forming reactor, and a second conduit to feed the second gas stream to the vessel containing the DRI.

A BF iron-ore reduction process for the production of iron and/or iron-carbon compounds with low environmental impact is described, in which a synthesis gas produced from a hydrocarbon stream with a short contact time-catalytic partial oxidation (SCT-CPO) process integrated with the iron-ore reduction process is also used in the BF.