A comprehensive characterization on the structural and thermophysical properties of sintered ore particles toward waste heat recovery applications

• Published in: Applied thermal engineering 2015-11, Vol.90, p.1007-1014
• Main Authors: Tian, Fu-You, Huang, Lian-Feng, Fan, Li-Wu, Weng, Yuan-Kai, Ying, Xiao-Yuan, Yu, Zi-Tao, Cen, Ke-Fa
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Fractal model; Porous structure; Sintered ore particle; Specific heat capacity; Thermal conductivity; Waste heat recovery
• ISSN: 1359-4311
• DOI: 10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2015.07.071

Waste heat recovery from sintered ore particles (SOPs) is deemed to be a promising approach to improving the thermal efficiency in iron and steel industry. In this work, industrial SOPs sampled from a steel plant were characterized to obtain a comprehensive set of fundamental structural and thermophysical properties. The SOPs investigated were identified as self-fluxed sinters having a basicity of 1.175 after composition analysis, and two peaks were observed on the pore size distribution. The specific heat capacity of the SOPs at elevated temperatures up to 200 °C was measured, with a power-law fit curve being established for extrapolation to higher temperatures up to 900 °C. The thermal conductivity of the SOP samples with various porosities was determined experimentally, while a Sierpinski-carpet-based fractal model was also utilized to predict the effective thermal conductivity as a function of porosity. The fractal model was validated by the experimental results, which can be applied over a wide range of porosity. •A comprehensive characterization on sintered ore particles (SOPs) was performed.•Porous structure of SOPs was observed with the density and porosity being measured.•Measured thermophysical properties include specific heat and thermal conductivity.•A fractal model was utilized to predict thermal conductivity in terms of porosity.•The characteristics of SOPs benefit heat transfer analysis for waste heat recovery.