CIVS Paper Selected for 2021 AIST Josef S. Kapitan Award – Ironmaking

April 17, 2021

CIVS and our collaborator, Stelco were notified on April 14, 2021 that the paper titled, “Investigation of High-Rate and Pre-Heated Natural Gas Injection in the Blast Furnace” has been selected for the 2021 AIST Josef S. Kapitan Award – Ironmaking by the AIST Ironmaking Technology Committee. The authors of this paper are Samuel Nielson (ME Student), Tyamo Okosun (CIVS Staff), John D’Alessio (Stelco), Shamik Ray (Stelco), Mitchell Klaas (Stelco), and Dr. Chenn Q. Zhou (CIVS Director).

The paper describes the work of the authors’ ongoing studies with the Steel Manufacturing Simulation and Visualization Consortium (SMSVC) to develop improved understanding of the impacts of pre-heated natural gas (NG) injection on blast furnace operation. The paper explores additional facets of the concept, including impacts on the blast furnace coke consumption rate, the level of gas pre-heating required to maintain a given reducing gas temperature within the furnace, and potential practical methods of achieving natural gas pre-heating.

This paper will be featured at the AISTech 2021 Conference that will be held in June 29^th-July 1^st, 2021 in Nashville, TN. This award was established in 1953 as the Journal of Metals Award by the Blast Furnace, Coke Oven and Raw Materials Committee of AIME. The name and award rules were changed in 1960 to the Ironmaking Conference Award. The name and award rules were again changed in 1982 to the Josef S. Kapitan Ironmaking Conference Award, then divided into the Josef S. Kapitan Ironmaking Best Paper Award and the Josef S. Kapitan Cokemaking Best Paper Award in 2005. The award is presented to the authors of a technical paper judged by the committee to be the best submitted for the conference at which it was presented.

The Association for Iron & Steel Technology (AIST) is a non-profit organization with over 18,500 members from more than 70 countries. AIST represents a large network of steel industry professionals with tremendous knowledge and expertise.