The principle of work of many metallurgical shaft furnaces is based on the flow of reaction gas through the descending packed bed composed of metallurgical materials. Hot gases flow up the shaft furnace through the column of materials, give their heat to the descending charge materials. At the same time due to their reducing nature they interact chemically, causing the reduction of oxides inside the charge. In real conditions, during the course of the process, the powder is generated, the source of which is the batch materials or it is introduced into the as part of the process procedure. The powder in the form of thin slurry is carried by the stream of flowing gas. Such multiphase flow might considerably affect the permeability of the charge due to the local holdup of powder. The holdup of solid phase in packed beds of metallurgical shaft furnaces leads to radial changes in bed porosity. Radial changes in bed porosity uneven gas flow along the radius of the reactor and negatively affect the course and efficiency of the process. The article describes the model studies on radial distribution of carbon powder holdup in the packed bed composed of metallurgical materials. The powder was divided into fractions – “static” and “dynamic”. Large diversity of carbon powder distribution was observed in the function of the radius of reactor in relation to the bed type, apparent velocity of gas carrying powder and the level of bed height.

The levitation melting has a potentially wide range of applications, especially in the processing of reactive metals whose contact with the crucible material causes their contamination and damage to the crucible itself. Despite its advantages, levitation melting, already proposed in the 1920s, has not yet found significant use in industrial conditions. This is due to the nature of the electromagnetic field used in previously developed devices. The disappearance of this field in the system axis causes overcoming, in the case of larger charges, surface tension forces and metal leakage from the device. The article contains a comparative analysis of a conventional solution and a newly developed levitation melting device, whose completely different design eliminates the previous weight limit of the charge.