Energy holds a substantial portion of the total cost in iron and steel industries and therefore reducing the amount of fuel consumption has direct impact on the total cost per ton of steel. Pelletizing iron oxide furnaces are costly systems. Reducing the energy consumption in this process is, therefore, one of the fundamental steps in reducing the energy consumption in steel production. In this work, a simulation of green pellet induration process is presented in traveling grate furnaces. The model includes different steps in the process including evaporation, preheating, firing, and cooling of the fired pellet. Evaporation of moisture in the pellets, calcination of limestone, oxidation of magnetite, and combustion of coke are considered in this simulation. The balance equations for mass, energy, and momentum are solved by commercial FLUENT package. The validity of the model is verified by comparing the temperature distribution of the pellets with the experimental results. The goal of this simulation is to explore the feasibility of reducing the fuel consumption, increasing the production tonnage, and improving the quality of the fired pellets. The temperature profile, the velocity and the composition of gas at different zones as well as the temperature profile of the pellets and the mechanism of variety of chemical and physical reactions inside the pellets during the process are obtained at different points in the simulation results. Furthermore, the model is capable of calculating the quality of the fired pellets, and the production tonnage. Numerous performance factors, including bed height, grate speed, inlet airflow to the bed, and percentage of initial coke are examined in the green pellet induration process and the optimum parameters are selected using a software. In the optimized situation, the pellets abrasion index is reduced from 6.6 with no coke to 2.7 with 1% coke. Additionally, the production tonnage is increased to 55% in the case of 1% coke compared to no coke. Keywords: Induration pellet furnace, simulation, moisture evaporation, magnetite oxidation, quality
