Influence of feed architecture on heat and mass transfer in calcium carbide electric furnace

It is of particular important to optimize the feed of calcium carbide (CaC2) production by improving the productivity and reducing the energy consumption. In this present paper, a transient mathematical model was established to analyze the effects of feed on heat and mass transfer characteristics of CaC2 electric furnace. The model was adopted to study the effects of powder and compressed feed on heat and mass transfer characteristics. In addition, the influence of the size of compressed feed particles on physical field distribution in the equipment was also investigated. The results displayed that the application of compressed feed is better than traditional powder feed in reducing serious local overheating and increasing the CaC2 production. When the three-phase alternating current (I) level increases from 10,000 A to 14,000 A, the average maximum temperature of the compressed feed furnace is about 8.8% lower than that of the traditional powder feed furnace. However, when furnace feed switches from powder feed to compressed feed, the average CaC2 production increases by about 18.6%. Small sizes of compressed feed is qualified with significant advantages in increasing the output. When I = 12,000 A and the size of compressed feed particle decreases from 5.0 mm to 0.4 mm, CaC2 production increases by about 26.5%, while when compressed feed particle size≤ 1.0 mm, with further size reduction, the differences in CaC2 output is not obvious. The study on the feed of CaC2 electric furnace on heat and mass transfer characteristics contributes to the optimization of performance in CaC2 electric furnace smelting.