Abstract: Dead-burned magnesia, as a key basic material for clean steel smelting, exerts a vital significance on the sustainable development of the refractory industry.However, prominent problems such as high energy consumption, heavy pollution and low product quality are generally confronted by the traditional dead-burned magnesia industry, which urgently need to be addressed through process optimization and technological upgrading. Numerical simulation technology can deeply analyze the thermal behavior and mass transfer laws inside shaft kilns, thus providing a theoretical basis for the precise regulation of process parameters. The development status and challenges faced by the dead-burned magnesia industry are systematically sorted out, and the research progress in the application of numerical simulation technology of heat transfer processes of dead-burned magnesia shaft kilns is summarized with a focus on the research status of gas-solid heat transfer in moving and fixed beds. Through the analysis of the selection of mathematical models and key assumptions, the applicability of local thermal equilibrium (LTE) and local non-thermal equilibrium (LTNE) models is discussed, and the research achievements of gas-solid heat transfer in fixed and moving beds and their reference significance for the process optimization of shaft kilns are summarized. It is shown that the LTNE model is more suitable for describing the gas-solid heat transfer process with significant temperature difference inside shaft kilns. The consideration of practical factors such as thermal radiation, particle non-sphericity and non-uniform porosity distribution is the key to improving model accuracy, and the CFD-DEM coupling method can finely simulate the influence of particle-scale behavior on macroscopic heat transfer. The optimization of operating parameters such as cooling air flow rate, sintering gas flow rate and burner position is an effective approach to improving the thermal efficiency and product quality of shaft kilns. A theoretical reference and technical support are provided for the green and efficient preparation of high-quality magnesia.