Optimal-packing models in problems of determining the porosity of agglomerated products

The sphere packing theory is used to study the influence of the particle-size distribution in the material on the porosity of briquettes and pellets, and the fractional composition of agglomerated products on the porosity of layers of such charge components. Understanding how the porosity of agglomerates varies with the particle-size distribution in the starting material, it is possible to optimize the metallurgical properties of briquette and pellets. The porosity of a layer of such products largely determines their behavior during both reduction (in blast furnaces, ore-thermal furnaces, and direct-reduction reactors) and pellet firing. The results obtained made it possible to identify for the first time the local extrema in the porosity of agglomerates and the porosity of a layer of pellets (briquettes). The developed heuristic approach can be used for optimizing the composition of mixtures for agglomeration, increasing the efficiency of pellet firing, and achieving high degrees of metallization in reducing an agglomerated charge. This approach accounts for the compressibility and shape irregularity of particles in both starting mixture and agglomerated products.