Iron making and its alloys, especially steel, has attracted attentions ever due to its widely applications. The production processes related to iron-making have been subject of many researchers. Blast furnace is the main method of steel making in the world. Sintering is considered as an important and key process for the production of pig iron based on the blast furnace technology. Sinter forms between 50 to 70 percent of the blast furnace iron load. In this study, the iron ore sintering process was simulated with an unsteady-two dimensional axisymmetric model by considering extended chemical mechanisms. Chemical mechanisms consist of coke oxidation and gasification, limestone decomposition, iron ore reduction and oxidation, evaporation and condensation of water, melting and solidification of iron ore and homogeneous mechanisms in the gas phase. The present simulation was performed with a pressure based, finite volume approach computer code. Simulation results for a sintering pot indicate that considering extended chemical mechanisms improves simulation predictions. Based on the simulation results, sintering bed was divided into five zones with respect to the temperature and gaseous species variations along the axial direction of the bed. Effects of chemical reactions kinetic parameters, coke particles size, inlet air velocity, coke amount in the sintering charge and limestone particles size on product sinter quality and time of sintering process was studied. Effect of the kinetic parameters on flame front is complex. Some of these parameters cause the flame front temperature increase at some areas while in other areas the flame front temperatures decrease. Larger coke particles size reduces the product sinter quality and increases the sintering time. If limestone particles size decreases too much, the amount of the decomposed limestone in the bed reduces and the product sinter quality declines. An increase in the inlet air velocity reduces the sintering time considerably. Amount of coke in the sintering charge might not change the sintering time sensibly but affects the product sinter quality and coke consumption considerably. Finally, anthracite substitution for coke as fuel in the bed was studied. Coke replacement with anthracite may decrease product sinter quality considerably. However, reduction of anthracite particles size could increase the sinter quality. Keywords: Chemical mechanism, Simulation, Iron ore sintering, Kinetic parameters , Solid combustion.
