Heat transfer mathematical modelling in the cooling systems of impure process gases in copper metallurgy

Process gases are high temperature by-products of many processes in copper metallurgy. They are heavily dusted and contain combustible components. The basic element in its treatment system is a post combustion chamber localized directly behind the technological furnace. This chamber permits combusting combustible components and precooling the gases with the aid of cooling water and air. Analysis of the processes occurring in the post combustion chamber is important to reduce the system energy consumption. It requires elaborating a mathematical model which describes the most significant physical and chemical phenomena accompanying the post combustion and cooling. The paper presents a mathematical model of the post combustion and cooling the process gases from an electric furnace in a copper plant. This model was elaborated by means of the CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) software (Gambit and Fluent). The k-ε Realizable model of turbulence, a single-stage carbon monoxide combustion model and the DO (Discrete Ordinates) model of radiation were used to build it. Numerical simulations were carried out on the basis of the elaborated model for the maximal mass flow of the process gases form the electric furnace. Exemplary calculation results are presented.