Thermodynamic Modeling of Iron and Nickel Reduction from B2O3-CaO-FeO-NiO Melts

At present, during solving theoretical and applied problems of metallurgical technologies improving, thermodynamic modeling (TDM) methods are widely used to calculate multicomponent and multiphase systems. However, existing methodology TДM are intended for the balance analysis in the ”closed” systems. The authors of [9] proposed a technique that allows, using TDMs, to describe metal reduction processes during gas bubbling of multicomponent oxide melts in approximation to “open” real systems. The applicability of the methods is estimated using the example of joint Nickel and Iron reduction modeling in the B2O3-CaO-FeO-NiO system by Carbon monoxide for ”open” and ”closed” systems. The data obtained comparison for ”open” and ”closed” systems show that the consecutive output of products (gas and metal) from working medium promotes achievement of the best parameters for Nickel extraction to alloy and to its residual content in oxide melt. Using this technique, the TДM process of joint reduction of Nickel and Iron in system B2O3-CaO-FeO-NiO by Carbon monoxide in ”open” system was undertaken at various temperatures in the 1273-1773K interval. Keywords: thermodynamic modeling, ”closed” system, ”open” system, joint reduction, Carbon monoxide, oxide melt, gas bubbling