The Slag Foaming Practice in EAF and Its Influence on the Steelmaking Shop Productivity

IMEXSA steel has a four electric arc furnaces (EAF) steelmaking shop which was originally designed to melt a DRI/scrap ratio of 80/20 for producing steel slab, but logistical and economical circumstances led to a change in this ratio to 98.2/1.8. This decision brought about increases on specific con...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:ISIJ International 1995/09/15, Vol.35(9), pp.1054-1062
Main Authors: Morales, R. D., Rubén, Lule G., López, Francisco, Camacho, Jorge, Romero, J. A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
DRI
EAF
electrical energy
foaming
slag
steelmaking
thermal efficiency
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Summary:IMEXSA steel has a four electric arc furnaces (EAF) steelmaking shop which was originally designed to melt a DRI/scrap ratio of 80/20 for producing steel slab, but logistical and economical circumstances led to a change in this ratio to 98.2/1.8. This decision brought about increases on specific consumptions of energy, electrodes, refractories and a loss of metallic yield among other items. In order to improve melting performance a study involving industrial measurements and thermodynamic-kinetic aspects of slag foaming was carried out. Implementation of a slag foaming practice gave very encouraging results in the main process variables; energy consumption decreased from 730 to 640 kWh/t of steel while electrode consumption decreased from 2.25 kg/t of steel to 1.81 kg/t of steel. With regard to iron oxidation, iron oxide contents in slag decreased from previous 36-40 wt% values to 23-25 wt% increasing substantially metallic yield. Overall process performance was improved and consequences of this program can be directly seen during seconday refining process of steel in LF.
ISSN:0915-1559
1347-5460
DOI:10.2355/isijinternational.35.1054