What is a Basic Oxygen Furnace?

A basic oxygen furnace is a pear-shaped structure with a closed bottom and an open top that
works to process steel. Commonly known as BOF, this type of furnace relies on pure oxygen,
rather than air, to convert iron into steel.

Dipping a water-cooled oxygen lance into the top of the furnace, inputs such as iron ore and
sometimes coal or limestone are added before poured into a ladle, where alloys and deoxidizers
are added to in order to help it reach the proper composition. The shape of a basic oxygen
furnace allows manufacturers to tilt it onto its side to charge and pour molten steel. On some rare
occasions, oxygen is injected into the mixture through a process known as "bottom blowing,"
through a spout found at the bottom of the barrel.

What is an Electric Arc Furnace?

The electric arc furnace is more modern than the former and produces its product using scrap
steel material, which is tossed into the furnace with the help of a large crane. A lid containing
electrodes is then placed on top of and lowered into the furnace, where they conduct an electric
current which takes the shape on an arc. As the heat created melts the scrap steel, additional
metals and oxygen are added to the material and eventually poured into a ladle and removed
from the furnace once the process is completed.

The Pros and Cons of Each

A basic oxygen furnace yields high production with minimal labor involved and creates a
finished product that is low in nitrogen. The need for raw materials to create the end product,
however, has proven to make this type of furnace inefficient both financially and in terms of its
use of time. Moreover, when coal added during production is burned off, it creates a by-product
known as coke, which gives off carbon monoxide, as does limestone, which is another common
additive used in this method.

Because electric arc furnaces rely on mostly recycled materials to produce steel, the
environmental factors alone are considered a major advantage. Using 100 percent recycled steel,
electric arc furnaces help contribute less waste material and save primary resources and energy
while lowering greenhouse gas emissions. Because this method relies so heavily on unwanted
and unused material, however, the resources can be limited, stalling production time and output.
Open-hearth process
The open-hearth process is a batch process and a batch is called a "heat". The furnace is first
inspected for possible damage. Once it is ready or repaired, it is charged with light scrap, such as
sheet metal, shredded vehicles or waste metal. The furnace is heated using burning gas. Once the
charge has melted, heavy scrap, such as building, construction or steel milling scrap is added,
together with pig iron from blast furnaces. Once all the steel has melted, slag-forming agents
such as limestone are added. The oxygen in iron oxide and other impurities decarburizes the pig
iron by burning excess carbon away, forming steel. To increase the oxygen content of the heat,
iron ore can be added.[4]

The process is far slower than that of the Bessemer converter and thus easier to control and
sample for quality assessment. Preparing a heat usually takes eight to eight and a half hours, and
(more) hours to finish the conversion into steel. As the process is slow, it is not necessary to burn
all the carbon away as in the Bessemer process, but the process can be terminated at any given
point when the desired carbon content has been achieved.[4]

The furnace is tapped in the same way a blast furnace is tapped; a hole is drilled in the side of the
hearth and the raw steel flows out. Once all the steel has been tapped, the slag is skimmed away.
The raw steel may be cast into ingots, a process called teeming, or it may be used in continuous
casting in the rolling mill.[4]

The regenerators are the distinctive feature of the furnace and consist of fire-brick flues filled
with bricks set on edge and arranged in such a way as to have a great number of small passages
between them.[4] The bricks absorb most of the heat from the outgoing waste gases and return it
later to the incoming cold gases for combustion.