Professional Documents
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900-
800
700
600
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Utm-High
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Examples
Ttim
Nucor Hidaan
chaparral
Northstar/BHP
CO-Steel Raritan
Inland
w 6045%
Chemical
High
ooo- Lukens
400
Ameri-Steel
300 - Medium Caparo Steel
200
Low
100
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Figure 2. EAF Power Classifications. Figure:3. Energy Patternsin an Electric Arc Furnace.
tions, oxygen injectionis started hours to 70-80 minutes for the effi-
as soon as a liquid pool of metal cient melt shops. Continuing Oxygen Usage
is formed. The decarburization advancements in EAF technology
process is an importantsource now make it possible to melta heat Much ofthe EAF productivity
of energy. In addition, the carbon of steel in less than one hour with gain achieved in the past decade
monoxide thatevolves helpsto electric energy consumption in is related to increased oxygen use.
flush nitrogenand hydrogen out the range of 360 to 400 kWhhon. With the increased availability of
of the metal. It also foams the slag, EAF operations utilizing scrap lower cost oxygen dueto newair
which helps to minimize heat loss preheating such as the CONSTEELQ separation technologies, oxygen
and shields the arc-thereby reduc- Process andthe Fuchs Shaft fur- use in the EAF has grown. Oxygen
ing damage to refractories. nace can achieve evenlower cycle usage has increasedfrom about
times. Most new EAF shops now 300 scfhon (8.8Nm3honne)in 1985
aim for tap-to-tap times of betweento as much as 1300 scfhon (37.4
Energy Needs 50-60 minutes. These times are Nm3honne),saving 50 to 100 k w h
rapidly approaching those for basic of electric energy per ton ofsteel
The International Ironand Steel oxygen furnace operations used in produced and reducing tap-to-tap
Institute classifies EAFs based on integrated steel mills. times by3 to 6 minutes. The rela-
the power supplied per ton of fur- tionship betweenelectric energy
nace capacity. Thepower classifica- Charge Materials and oxygen consumption for the
tion ranges andsome representa- EAF is shown in Figure 4. It is now
tive furnace installations are shown In the past, EAF shops essen- common for between 30 to 40%
in Figure 2. Most modernEAFs tially charged100% scrap to the of the total energy input
to the EAF
found insteelmaking shopsare at furnace. Although mostEAF steel- to come from oxy-fuelburners and
least 500 kVA per ton and the trend makers producing longproducts, oxygen lancing.
is toward ultra-high-power furnaces such as rebar and merchant bar, Oxy-fuel burners are currently
in therange of 900 to 1000 kVA per continue to use all scrap, some standard equipment onEAFs. The
ton offurnace capacity. EAF shops today are supplement- first use of burnerswas for melting
A typical energy balance ing thecharge with other materials the scrap at the slag door wherearc
(Sankey diagram) fora modern EAF for producing higher quality prod- heating was fairly inefficient. In
is shown inFigure 3. Depending ucts. This is the case for some ultra-high-power (UHP) furnaces,it
upon the meltshop operation, about producers of high-qualitybars and is common forcold spots to exist
60 to 65% of the total energy iselec- highly formablesheet products in the areas lying between the
tric, the remainder being chemical for automobiles. These charge electrodes on the periphery of the
energy arisingfrom the oxidation of materials include direct reduced furnace bottom. Burnersare often
elements such as carbon, iron, and iron, iron carbide, and pig iron. installed to help meltscrap in these
silicon andthe burning of natural For more informationon scrap cold spots. This results in more
gas with oxy-fuelburners. About quality and direct reduced iron see uniform meltingand decreasesthe
53% of the total energy leaves the CMP Report 95-1. The trend toward time requiredto reach a flat bath.
furnace in the liquidsteel, while the the use of direct-reduced materials Also, burners are beneficial for heat-
remainder is lost to the slag, waste will continue to grow as more ing the cold spot around the tap
gas,and cooling. I high-quality scrap containing low hole of eccentric bottom tapping
Just a decade ago tap-to-tap levels of residuals or undesirable furnaces. Typically burners are
times haddecreased from over 2 elements becomes scarce. installed in the side wall and roof of
TechCommentarv 2
bath declines as more burned in the fourth holeevacua-
heat is radiated from tion system conveying the off-gases
the arc to the side- from the furnace to the baghouse.
walls. By covering the The heat ofcombustion of CO to
arc in a layer of slag C 0 2 is three times greater than the
the arc is shielded and heat of combustion of C to CO.
more energy is trans- Thus, this represents avery large
ferred to the bath. potential energy sourcefor theEAF.
Oxygen injected with If theCO is burnedin the EAF it is
granular coalor car- possible to recover the heat while
bon produces carbon reducing the heatload on the off-gas
monoxide (CO) which system. This is called post combus-
foams theslag. In tion. Results of studieshave shown
some cases, only car- that bypracticing post combustion,
bon isinjected andit i.e., injecting oxygeninto theEAF to
reacts with the iron burn theCO to COz, 35 to 60 percent
oxide in the slag to of the heat in the off-gas can be
5 6,
350 produce CO. This is recovered. EAF operators are now
5 called afoamy slag moving toward adopting this
practice and is now practice and typicalelectric energy
0 600 1200 commonly used by savings are about 0.1 kWh/scf
Oxygen Consumption EAF operators. When (4 kWh/Nm3) of oxygen injected).
(Standard cubic feetper ton) foamed, the slag cover
normally increases EAF Bottom Stirring
from 4 inches (0.1
-igure 4. Eleptrical Energy vs. Oxygen Consumption. meter) to 12 inches For conventional ac furnaces
(0.3 meter) thick. there is little natural electrically
the furnace as well as in the slag Claims for thermal efficiency range induced turbulencewithin the bath
door. Productivity increases of5 to from 60 to 90% with slag foaming compared to dc furnaceswhich
20% have been reported from the compared to 40% without foamy have more convection stirring.If
use of burners. slag. If a deepfoamy slag is there is little bath movement, large
Oxygen lancing has also achieved, it is possibleto increase pieces of scrap can take a long time
become anintegral partof EAF the arc voltage considerably. This to melt and may require oxygen
melting operationsover the past allows a greater rateof power input. lancing. The conceptof stirring the
decade. Modern furnaces use Slag foaming is usually carried out bath isnot a new one and records
oxygen lances to cut scrap, decar- once aflat bath isachieved. indicate that electromagnetic coils
burize (refine) thebath, and foam However, with hotheel operations were used for stirring trialsas early
the slag. Energy savingsdue to (residual liquid steel in the furnace as 1933. Today most EAF stirring
oxygen lancingarise from both bottom) it is possibleto start foam- operations use inert gas as the stir-
exothermic reactions (oxidation of ing muchsooner. ring medium. The gas is introduced
carbon and iron) and due to the through the bottom of the furnace
stirring of the bath which leads to
temperature and composition Post Combustion using porousplugs. In a conven-
tional ac furnace, three plugsare
homogeneity ofthe bath. Oxygen
CO gas is producedin large used with a plug located midway
lances can beof two forms, water between each of thethFee elec-
cooled andconsumable. Water- quantities in the EAF both from
oxygen lancing andslag foaming. trodes. Primarily argon or nitrogen
cooled lances are generally usedfor
decarburizing; however, in some If the CO is notcombusted in the gases are used; however,some
cases they are usedfor scrap cut- furnace freeboard thenit must be trials havebeen conducted with
ting. The first consumable lances
were operated manually through
the slag door. Today, remote-
controlled lance manipulators are
available to optimize the injection
process. Theserobotic units, Figure
5, can be usedwith multiple, indi-
vidually controlled,consumable
lances for scrap burning and decar-
burizing, as well as for injecting
oxygen, carbon, and lime.
Techcommentary 4
very little loaddisturbance, and the
steelmaker can have considerable
Voltage
Hiah n flexibility in configuring his internal
plant powersystem. Most utilities
-
rC I
require power factorcorrection.
Shops with large EAFs would more
than likely use static capacitors;
synchronous condensers of suffi-
cient capacity would be prohibitive-
ly expensive for amultifurnace
shop. Before such systems are
installed, transient analysis is
required to determine:
1) Capacitor bankconfiguration.
AC Furnace 2) Need for harmonic tuning of
sections.
3) Switching procedure (Thisis
important to avoid a power
High Voltage AC Line factor penalt and does not
1
eliminate flicer).
As mentioned earlier, use of dc
EAFs and improved operating
practices such as scrap preheating,
foamy slags, and use of hotheels
all workto reduce flicker. If addi-
tional regulation is needed, installa-
tion ofa static var control(SVC)
may be required. Many EAF shops
have installed SVC systems not
only to minimize flicker problems
but also to increase productivity.
DC Furnace
~~
Graphite
Electrode
P
The Electric Power Research Institute The EPRl Center for Materials LEGAL NOTICE
(EPRI) conducts a technical research Production (CMP) is an R&D application This TechCommentarywas prepared
and development programfor the center funded by The Electric Power and sponsored by The EPRl Center
U.S. electric utility industry. EPRl Research Institute andoperated for Materials Production (CMP).
promotes the development ofnew by Carnegie Mellon Research Institute, Neither members ofCMP nor any
and improved technologies to help Carnegie Mellon University. CMP is a person acting on their behalf
the utility industry meet present and service of the Industrial and Agricul- (a) makes any warranty, expressed or
future electric energy needs in envi- tural Technologies and Services implied, with respect to the use of
ronmentally and economically Business Unit of the Customer Systems any information, apparatus, method,
acceptable ways. EPRl conducts Group of EPRI. The mission of the or process disclosed in this
research on allaspects of electric Center is to discover, develop, and deliv TechCommentaryor that such use
power production anduse, including er high value technological advances may notinfringe privately owned
fuels, generation, delivery energy through networking and partnership rights; or (b)assumes any liabilities
management and consewation, with theelectricity industry. with respect to theuse.of, or fordam-
environmental effects, and energy ages resulting from theuse of, any
EPRl information, apparatus, method, or
analysis. Preston Roberts, Manager,
process disclosed in this
Materials Production and Fabrication
TechCommentary.
CMP
Joseph E. Goodwill, Director
I