Recycling steel industry waste for environmental protection: Investigation of blast furnace slag cooling process with atomized water granulation method.

In order to make proper use of industrial waste for environmental protection and energy conservation, the atomized water granulation method was proposed for the waste heat recovery of blast furnace slag. The selection of atomized water parameters significantly impacts the waste heat recovery efficiency of blast furnace slag particles Therefore, this study employs Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) to investigate the solidification and cooling process of individual blast furnace slag particles, with particular focus on the effects of varying atomized water velocities on the temperature field, liquid phase distribution, and velocity field of blast furnace slag droplets. The results indicate that the temperature field of blast furnace slag particle shows the distribution law of high inside and low outside, the temperature drop rate on windward side is greater than the leeward side. During the cooling process, the outer layer of blast furnace slag is first cooled to solid phase, and the maximum velocity of atomized water occurs on both sides of the blast furnace slag. With the increase of atomized water velocity, the temperature drop rate and solidification rate of the blast furnace slag are accelerated, the recirculation flow on the leeward side of the blast furnace slag enhances local heat transfer. When the atomized water velocity is greater than 5 m/s, the blast furnace slag particles have a tendency to deform.