Thermal Engineering Potential of Gaseous Fuel Combustion in a Dense Bed of Lump Materials

The onset of chemical interaction between combustible gas components when the initial gas–air mixture is introduced into a dense bed of lump materials being blown through is preceded by a period of ignition with an increased temperature gradient between the lump materials and the gas molecules of the mixture, and an increase in the bed heating temperature to 800–1050°C. The increased adsorption activity of oxygen molecules on the solid surface of the bed reduces their concentration in the inter-lump space at the initial stage of the gas–air mixture movement, increasing the required air flow rate to 2.5–3.0. When supplying the initial gas streams directly into the fired bed of lump materials of varying particle sizes, two options are possible: supplying a prepared gas–air mixture, pre-mixed in special mixers, or supplying them in separate streams. Heat generation techniques create conditions for flexible control of the firing, sintering, and remelting technology of lump materials.