Numerical study of heat transfer for microwave-assisted reduction of hematite

In this paper, the temperature distribution during microwave-assisted heating of the hematite ore pellets was predicted by using the numerical simulations. Hematite rectangular pallets 25 cm x 25 cm in size were considered to be heated for 1, 2 and 3 minutes using a microwave-assisted furnace. Numerical simulations were performed to simulate the heat transfer in a 2-dimensional hematite slab on application of the convective and the radiative boundary conditions. The resulting temperature profile can be used as a guiding tool for optimizing the microwave-assisted carbothermal reduction process of hematite.