Review on improving gas permeability of blast furnace

Blast furnace ironmaking process is the most mature and highly effective process for producing liquid iron. Blast furnace is a gas–solid and gas–solid–liquid countercurrent reactor, and maintaining gas permeability is the precondition of smooth production. Therefore, improving the gas permeability throughout the blast furnace remains a hot issue which is concerned by many metallurgical scholars. According to the research results of many scholars, the dominant factors influencing the gas permeability of different locations in the blast furnace (locations are distinguished according to the morphology change of the burdens) were reviewed. And the strategies for improving the gas permeability of different locations in the blast furnace were summarized based on these dominant influencing factors, such as suppressing the low-temperature reduction degradation of sinter in the lump zone, improving the indirect reduction degree and suppressing the interaction between different burdens. It is hoped to provide both theoretical and practical values for guiding the blast furnace so as to improve smooth operation and smelting efficiency.