Effect of ring groove in a heat-insulating insert on efficiency of its work in blast channel of blast furnace tuyere

One of the main disadvantages when supplying natural gas to the air tuyere of a blast furnace is low intensity of its combustion inside the tuyere blast channel. Ring groove on the surface of blast channel improves the mixing of natural gas with blast and increases completeness of gas combustion in it, but reduces the tuyere durability. One of the ways to simultaneously solve these problems is to install a heat-insulating ceramic insert in the tuyere blast channel. The insert significantly reduces heat losses through the tuyere surface, improves natural gas combustion in the blast channel due to its contact with hot walls of the insert instead of cold copper walls in its absence. This increases the temperature of the hot blast at the tuyere outlet. In addition, the insert affects the tuyere durability by reducing the heat flow acting on the tuyere. In this work, we studied influence of the ring groove and its parts in the insert on efficiency of its work. In the Ansys 21.1 software, the processes occurring in the blast channel of a blast furnace tuyere with a ceramic insert installed in it, having a groove of a quadrangular section in the form of a ring or its part in the circumferential direction, were simulated. It was established that improvement of natural gas combustion in the tuyere blast channel is achieved using a ring groove or part of it from the side of gas supply.