Gas and Particle Flow in a Spray Roaster

In the steel industry, waste hydrochloric acid is produced through the process to pickle steel slabs for removal of corrosion. Regenerated hydrochloric acid is obtained by separating the chloride gas from the waste product through spray roasting.This process also produces a by-product in the form of iron oxide which is sold to different industries. The present study is a continuation of a study arising from the need to better understand the dynamics inside the regeneration reactor, which in turn will improve possibilities to optimize the regeneration process, which to date has been manually adjusted by trial and error. In this study the velocity and temperature distribution inside the reactor is numerically modelled together with the droplet motion through the reactor. The main objective is to investigate the influence of a changed spray nozzle position on the flow characteristics of the continuous and dispersed phase, and the relation between temperature and energy efficiency and the regeneration process. Numerical models of the type of flow present in the regeneration reactor are not represented to any major extent in the literature, making the present study relevant to the engineers and researchers active in the steel industry and the application in question.