Patent ID: 11920204
Assignee: MIDREX TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
Field: Materials, metallurgy (Chemistry)
Classification: CPC C  F  Y | IPC C  F

Claim 0:
1. A direct reduction plant, comprising:
a catalytic reformer;
a heat exchanger adapted to receive a gas mixture comprising natural gas and compressed shaft furnace top gas, pre-heat the gas mixture to form a pre-heated gas mixture at about 560° C., and discharge the pre-heated gas mixture to an oxygen injection system, wherein the oxygen injection system is positioned between the heat exchanger and the catalytic reformer, and the catalytic reformer is positioned downstream of the heat exchanger;
the oxygen injection system adapted to further increase temperature of the pre-heated gas mixture to about 700° C. or above, to mitigate a risk of Boudouard carbon deposition at the catalytic reformer, by burning a fuel with oxygen and adapted to discharge the pre-heated gas mixture with the increased temperature directly to the catalytic reformer; wherein the catalytic reformer is adapted to reform the pre-heated gas mixture with the increased temperature and produce a reformed gas mixture and adapted to provide the reformed gas mixture directly to a shaft furnace; and
the shaft furnace adapted to reduce iron ore using the reformed gas mixture.