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During steel production in elec- Introduction evaporated off but not thermally
tric arc furnaces dioxins and destroyed; one result here being the
furans are produced. These The increasing use of scrap signifi- formation of volatile organic chlori-
emissions depend on the scrap cantly contaminated with organic sub- nated hydrocarbon compounds and
quality and can require addi- stances leads to a deterioration in the the precursor compounds of dioxins
tional waste gas cleaning. quality of waste gases from EAF plants and furans.
Adsorptive waste gas cleaning that process metallic scrap. The The requirement to decrease dioxin
using activated lignite (HOK) in dimension of the waste gas flow to be and furan emissions into the atmos-
an entrained phase process con- treated in electric steel plants calls for phere calls for effective reduction
stitutes one of the most simple waste gas cleaning processes that per- facilities to be installed on the waste
and at the same time lowest- mit technically efficient and economi- gas side. The reduction in PCDD/F
cost cleaning methods success- cally justifiable environmental protec- emissions is also of particular impor-
fully applied in five European tion. tance as the EU Council of Ministers
electric steel mills. Reliable pol- Dioxin emission reduction plays a set the goal to achieve by 2005 a 90%
lutant reduction to dioxin and significant role here, all the more so reduction in dioxin emissions in the
furan concentrations below since waste gas flows of sometimes EU, as compared to the reference year
0.1 ngTE/m3 are achieved. more than 1 million m3/h can result in 1985 [3]. Independent of this target,
considerable pollutant loads. During some countries have already estab-
the thermal treatment of scrap con- lished emission limit values for the
taminated with paints, oils or other operation of electric steel mills in the
organic substances, dioxins and furans last few years, most of which are even
are released or produced during waste more stringent.
gas treatment and emitted into the
were also retrofitted in 2001 to include time is required to have dioxins and favourable pore structure present in
the waste gas cleaning technology. In furans adsorbed on activated lignite. the HOK lignite featuring high meso-
addition, the electric steel mills at Stahl This is the principle on which pore and macropore portions (1 to >
Gerlafingen, Switzerland, and ALZ, entrained-phase adsorption is based 50 nm) permits easy access to the
Genk, Belgium, decided to implement (figure 1). inner surface area which is decisive,
dioxin reduction by applying the acti- In the entrained-phase process, the among other things, for the adsorp-
vated lignite technology. At Stahl Ger- pulverized carbon-containing sorbent, tion of macromolecular compounds
lafingen, the entrained-phase system usually activated lignite, is injected such as those of dioxins and furans.
was commissioned in 1998, while the into the waste gas flow upstream of an The micro- and submicropore range
newly built ALZ Genk steel mill suc- existing dust separation unit; for (< 1 nm) which is more pronounced
cessfully started up its system in 2003. example, a fabric filter or an electro- for many, and often expensive, activat-
Comprehensive measurements have static precipitator. An important pre- ed carbons is frequently not, or only to
confirmed that the activated lignite condition for achieving optimum sep- a limited extent, useful for this appli-
based plant meets the emission reduc- aration efficiency is the presence of a cation. The cleaning efficiency of HOK
tion demands placed on innovative homogeneous and at the same time is favoured by the high pore volume of
environmental technology. Activated turbulent mixture already at the injec- about 50 %.
The separation efficiency depends
considerably on the probability of
contact between the sorbent and the
pollutant molecule. The distribution
of the adsorbent in the waste gas flow
plays a major role here and can be
improved significantly by the milling
rate.
Application at Esch-Belval
of the particle-bonded dioxins and standard product, pulverized activated A total of five European electric
furans are important prerequisites for lignite (HOK 63 µm), only allowed steel mills successfully implement
PCDD/F reduction. Sound functioning PCDD/F contents of just under entrained-phase adsorption on HOK.
of the dust separator and low dust 0.1 ngTE/m3 to be reached, a higher The operational experience gained
emissions are fundamental conditions dosing rate of approx. 150 mg/m3 was over several years has shown that the
for the successful use of integrated adjusted. This, however, caused dam- applied process and safety technology
entrained-phase adsorption, since age to the filter bags due to smoulder- has proved its worth. Process-integrat-
already low dust discharge rates entail ing fire and dust deposits in the fabric ed entrained-phase adsorption on
an increase in total PCDD/F emissions. filter. These events were found to be HOK has turned out to be a technically
due to the reactivity of the process fil- safe and at the same time low-cost
ter dusts which, in a mixture with the process for reducing the PCDD/F emis-
Filter dust use fed carbon, lead to a higher propensity sions of electric steel mills. The 0.1
to ignition of the filter dust mixture. ngTE/m3 limit value specified for diox-
The added HOK depositing in the Changing to the super-milled sorbent ins and furans is strictly adhered to.
fabric filter together with the filter "HOK super", the larger surface area of For electric steel mill operation, the
dust usually only means an up to 3% which permits a low dosing rate, elimi- HOK technology provides the advan-
weight increase in the carbon concen- nated the disturbances and improved tage of employing scrap preheating
tration in the dust to be processed. The PCDD/F separation efficiencies. The which otherwise is often not imple-
external processing including recovery following findings which should gen- mented because of the increased
of the valuable materials, which is erally be considered in integrating release of pollutants. Scrap preheating,
common at electric steel mills, is not entrained-phase adsorption into elec- however, allows higher efficiencies to
affected by this, provided downstream tric steel mills were derived from these be reached due to the better heat uti-
filter dust processing is based on the initial disturbances. lization during the melting process.
application of carbon in the metallur- At increased waste gas temperatures Combined with RWE Power AG’s sev-
gical process (such as the Waelz and in the presence of flying sparks, eral decades of experience in HOK, the
process). the filter dusts catalytically active in low-cost mass sorbent activated lignite
Investigations show that the organic electric melting furnaces may lead to provides an integral solution for imple-
pollutants, such as PCDD/F, adsorbed the ignition of the filter dust mixture menting innovative environmental
on activated lignite are bonded irre- and damage to the filter cloths. This is protection in the steel industry.
versibly due to the high bonding why the carbon portion in the filter
forces and are reliably destroyed or cat- dust mixture is limited. References
alytically decomposed during thermal To prevent smouldering particles [1] Report by the working group of the
treatment. from entering the fabric filter, a spark Air/Technology sub-committee of the
Immission Control state committee – Erar-
separator is to be installed upstream of beitung von Anforderungen zur Emis-
the filter to ensure that the waste gas sionsbegrenzung für Dioxine und Furane –
Operating performance flow is technically free from sparks. April 1993
[2] Puetz, R.: Dioxinproblematik bei metallur-
Filter dust discharge by the dis-
gischen Prozessen der Stahlindustrie, Doc-
The first entrained-phase adsorption charge cones is to be done continu- toral thesis, Technical University of
system installed at an electric melting ously, i.e. large-volume dust accumu- Aachen, 1996
furnace was commissioned in 1997 at lations in the filter area are to be [3] Phillip, J.A.: Verringerung der Dioxinemis-
sion an Sinteranlagen; Final Report by the
the Schifflingen steel mill. When the avoided. For this reason, level probes Federal Environmental Agency, 50441-
first measured results revealed that the were installed. 5/217, Dec. 2002