The State-of-the-Art in the Top Submerged Lance Gas Injection Technology: A Review

The significance of the Top Submerged Lance (TSL) technology/process is continuously increasing in metal production and recycling fields. A large number of studies have been performed on TSL process and its flow characteristics. This paper provides a critical review on the innovation and development of the TSL reactor and the flow behavior. A detailed description of the TSL reactor is presented, including top lance design, corrosion mechanism of the lance, and reaction regimes in the reactor. Flow characteristics are discussed under various operational conditions, namely, bubbling/jetting flow pattern, bubble formation, gas penetration depth, melt splashing, melt sloshing, and flow mixing. In addition, extra attention should be paid to the importance of accurately describing slag chemistry and physicochemical properties of multicomponent slag system for capturing the real flow physics during industrial processing. This paper concludes with current progress of TSL flow physics and suggestions for future work.