Recent 

Developments  In 
p
Electric Steel Making

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 Estimated production of steel in India
• From integrated steel plants of BF/BOF, BF/OH and
COREX/BOF= 26 million tonnes
COREX/BOF

• From EAFs including

g EOFs = 9 million tonnes

• From induction furnaces = 25 million tonnes (Average of

above
b t
two estimates)
ti t )

• Total steel production = 60 million tonnes

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Electric steel making is primarily through two
routes.

i. Electric Arc Furnace

ii. Induction Furnace.

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 ADVANCES IN ARC FURNACE ROUTE
• Use of ultra high power transformer.

• Super Sonic Oxygen injection technology with carbon injection &

lime injection.

• Use of Hot Metal in Arc furnace.

• Single power source D.C. electric Arc Furnace two vessel system,
and bottom Argon purging facility at Nippon steel.

• Water cooled panels.

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• Use of ultra high power transformer
Transformer rating equal to the capacity of the F/C
facilitates
i. Higher pumping of electrical power.

i. This coupled with effective foamy slag practice substantially

reduces Sp Power consumption.

i. Reduction of power on time.

i. Reduction of Tap to Tap time.

i. A Concept F/C designed by VAI has transformer rating 40 %

higher than the F/C capacity
capacity. A 120 T F/C with 170 MVA
transformer will achieve 30 min., Tap to Tap time and is
capable of producing 1.8 million tones of steel/annum.

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• Specially designed refractory coated water
cooled panels

• Prevent heat loss because the higher temperature resistant

refractory coated on the panel surface does not allow the high
temperature exhaust gases to come in direct contact with the water
cooled panels. ( Normally around 15 % of sensible heat is lost
through the water cooled panels. )

• The refractory coating in the panel facilitates faster slag deposition

over it and this in turn prevents the wear and tear of the panel by
scrap
p , increases p panel life / p
prevent p premature p panel failure
leading to F/C stoppage.

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SUPERSONIC OXYGEN INJECTION TECHNOLOGY WITH CARBON
INJECTION & LIME INJECTION
• Incorporates the functions of oxy-fuel burner,
oxygen lance, and carbon injection in one process
control tool.

•It is designed to work with different type of fuel such

as natural gas, coke oven gas or light oil.

•Process control solution include PLC and HMI

programming for a fully automated injection of fuel,
oxygen and carbon.

•ALATC-JET is mounted in a water-cooled copper

panel, equipped with a carbon injector and located
close to slag line, to provide superior carbon
injection
j efficiency.
y

•ALATC-JET optimized nozzle allows for

decarburization rates from 0.1%C to 0.15%C per
minute. General Arrangement
g Panel

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 Arc & Slag control unit.

• Arc & Slag control unit manages and integrates the electrode regulation
& injection devices (Oxygen/ natural gas & carbon).
• The system gives the operators a flexible production tool

Main Benefits of Arc & Slag control unit are

• Reduced active electrical power during melting phase and Super
heating phase.
• Automatic management of forming slag process
• Reduced
R d d consumption
ti off injecting
i j ti carbon.
b
• Reduced & Optimized usage of Oxygen & natural gas.

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DRAGONTM Panel with post STANDARD Panel
combustion

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 Main advantage
g of super
p sonic oxygen
yg lance

• Up to 60 KW/ton electrical saving.

• 20% reduction of electrode consumption.

• 12% reduction of Power on time.

• 30% reduction of refractory consumption.

• +1% increase in metallic yield

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 Usage of Hot Metal in Arc Furnace
• Generally plants in India, Brazil & China are strongly dependent on
Hot metal in EAF.
• Most popular and cost effective practice is 50% Hot Metal & 50%
DRI.
• Furnace equipped with top DRI charging system is designed to
discharge the DRI on the furnace Hot spot area ensuring fast DRI
melting by avoiding iceburg formation.
• The process automation system facilitates optimum DRI feeding rate
according to varying bath temperatures ensuring faster DRI melting.
• It helps to increase in steel plant production.
• Increase in DRI utilization.
• Increase in flexibility of EAF operation
• Increase in profitability of the steel plant.

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SINGLE SOURCE TWIN VESSEL SYSTEM
WITH BOTTOM ARGON PURGING

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 Conclusions:
Modern EAF based steel plants has the following main
advantages
• Relatively low investment costs compared to the integrated
BF/Oxygen steel making route.

• Utilization of wide range raw materials such as scrap DRI, HBI and
Hot metal.

• Ability to fulfill a wide range of production targets and steel qualities

to meet specific market requirements.

• Low
L operational
ti l and
d conversion
i costt promoting
ti a relatively
l ti l short
h t
return on investment.

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 Developments
p in Induction Furnaces
Size & Capacity
• Induction furnaces are available in the size range
g of 1T/500kW to
40T/10MW. The higher capacity furnace of 40T/10MW is capable
of producing 100000 tonnes liquid steel per year.

Melting of higher percentage of DRI

• Most of the induction furnaces are using 50 to 70% DRI in the
charge
h mix.
i S
Some plants
l t like
lik OSIL have
h gone to
t 90 to
t 100%
sponge iron melting with special operating practice. In such a
practice a liquid pool of 10 to 15 % of rated capacity is always
maintained in the furnace. After every tap of liquid metal, direct
feeding of DRI with carbonaceous material starts and continues till
the end of melting.

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 Developments in Induction Furnaces
Mechanized feeding
• For bigger furnaces the mechanized
feeding system is being designed for Fig-1:
Fig 1: Arrangement hopper

controlled rate of charging. for continuous

• A hopper with vibro-feeder having movable charging of
/ swiveling mechanism to facilitate tilting of DRI in IF
the furnace is provided.
• In such furnaces a top cover is also
provided which helps
p p in minimizing
g the
heat losses by radiation.
• The top cover has provision of holes for
charging, sampling / observation and
pollution duct. Such a system for
continuous feeding of DRI in IF is shown in
figure-1.

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 Developments
p in Induction Furnaces
Preheating of charge

•Preheating of the raw material charge (DRI/Scrap) to a

temperature of 600-700 Deg.C can reduce the specific power
consumption for melting by 120 to 140 kWh/tls.

•Preheating of scrap is well developed

•Preheating of DRI is under development

•Hot screening of DRI discharged from rotary kiln
•Installing
gap
preheatingg system
y on working
g floor of Induction
Furnace

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 Developments
p in Induction Furnaces
Refractory lining

• To overcome the major constraint of dephosphorisation in

induction furnaces it is needed to adopt basic / neutral lining
practice in place of silica (acid) lining. The lining material can
be in form of bricks or ramming mass. For smaller furnaces
( 10T capacity)
(<10T it ) the
th ramming
i mass is i preferable.
f bl

• Dephosphorisation of steel can take place under following

operating conditions

– Basic slag of basicity > 1.5

– Li id bath
Liquid b th temperature
t t 1580 – 1600 Deg,
D C
– FeO in slag > 20 %
– Frequent removal of slag

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 IF based Mini-Integrated
g Steel Plant concept
p
The mini-integrated steel plant concept comprises of
following units

• Coal based direct reduction plant

• Induction melting furnaces / EAFs with mini BF
• Ladle refining furnace
• Continuous casting machine
• Rolling mill for long and flat products
• Power plant with WHRB and FBC Boilers

The capacities of these plants can be in the range of 100000 to

500000 TPA
TPA.

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Electrotherm’s
Electrotherm s model mini-integrated steel plant

• 250TPD rotary kiln under operation

• 350TPD rotary kiln under operation
• 4 x 25T / 7.5MW IFs under operation
• 2 billet casters each with 2 strands under operation
• One 25T / 3MW DC Plasma LRF under operation
• One 20TPH mill for rolling of TMT bars under operation
• One 30T AOD ((MRK)) under operation
p
• One structural mill under operation
• One oxygen plant of 600Nm3/hr under operation
• One 65m3 mini-blast furnace for feeding g existing
g DI Pipe
p pplant
• One 30MW power plant

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Fig:-3: FLOWSHEET FOR PRODUCTION OF STRUCTURAL & ALLOY STEEL

DRI & Scrap

Power
Induction
F
Furnace

Liquid Steel

Power Ferro alloys

LRF Flux

Liquid Steel

CONTINUOUS
CASTING MACHINE

Blooms/Billets

ROLLING MILL

Rolled Long Products

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 Production of stainless steel
Electrotherm developed the IF-MRK-LRF route of
stainless steel making in 1991-92. The first integrated
complex was commissioned in December, 1992.
The metal refining konverter (MRK) is essentially a
decarburizing equipment for most effective production
of S.S and several other grades of low alloy steels.
India’s, one of the largest stainless steel producer
Shah Alloys ltd, Ahmedabad happens to be the largest
stainless steel p producer in the world through g
IF-MRK-LRF route.
Electrotherm has supplied four induction furnaces of
20T,, two MRKs of 20T and two MRKs of 50T capacities
p
to Shah Alloys.
Electrotherm clients through IF-MRK-LRF-CCM-RM
route are successfully producing difficult grades of 200
series stainless steel sheets in India.

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 Development
p of Continuous Induction Furnace
• Electrotherm jointly with Stal-Tech, S.A., who has patented
the technology of channel inductors, have developed a new
furnace called CONTIFUR (CONTinuous Induction FURnace)
for melting 100% DRI. Channel inductors are very efficient
devices for converting electrical energy into heat.

• The concept was tested through CFD analysis and a

simulated water model

• An experimental test Contifur of 30T/4MW was installed at

Sil
Silvasa. It was operated
t d for
f about
b t 2 months
th using
i DRI lumps
l
and fines of 70-85% degree of metallization along with 10%
mill scale

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 Development
p of Continuous Induction Furnace
• About 1000T of steel produced was cast into ingots. The
composition of steel was C < 0.1 %, S<0.03%, P<0.02 %
• Contifur when operated at 2.5MW produced 70T of liquid
steel per day at a power consumption of 750kWh/T
Fi : Contifur
Fig C tif tapping
t i metal
t l into
i t holding
h ldi Fig : Holding furnace pouring metal into ingot
furnace moulds

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• After establishing
g the technology
gy and operating
p g ppractice at
silvasa, a 30T/2.5MW contifur was installed in ET steel plant at
Kutch
• During different campaigns carried out,
out 100% DRI as well as
mix of 75-90% DRI and 10-25% iron ore fines have been used.
Fig : Rear view of Contifur furnace Fig : Side view of Contifur furnace

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• In these campaigns steel with C = 0.1-1.5%
0 1 1 5% and pig iron with C
= 2.8-3.6% has been produced.
• The developments on production of composite pellets and their
reduction
d ti characteristics
h t i ti for
f feeding
f di into
i t contifur
tif are continuing.
ti i
Fig : Priming of furnace for start up Fig : Contifur tapping liquid metal into ladle

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 Advantages
g of Contifur over EAF are as following:
g
• Low energy consumption

• Continuous operation with utilization of full power

• Use of 100% DRI fines of +1mm size and 70% & above degree
of metallization

• No requirement of oxygen and electrodes

• Slag free tapping of steel

• No flicker on electrical supply lines

• Operation on own power generation

• Most
M eco-friendly
f i dl due
d to low
l gas and
d dust
d generation
i

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 Conclusions:
• Presently induction furnaces are being used mostly for
production of billets, bars, rods, structurals etc in plain
carbon steel category

• The secondary steel sector should concentrate on

production of structural, low alloy and special steels

• For producing
F d i goodd quality
lit products,
d t th refining
the fi i
facilities like LRF, VD and continuous casting need to be
installed

• For production of stainless steel, IF-AOD-LRF-CCM

route is found to be more economical.
economical

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 Conclusions:
• Serious efforts are required to be put towards
development of basic lining in Induction Furnaces

• The mini-integrated steel plant concept is fast coming up

based on DRI-IF
DRI IF route.
route The conversion of iron ore fines
into pellets for their use in DRI plants in place of lump
ore will be desirable in future

• The R&D efforts on development of alternate routes of

steel
t l making
ki suiting
iti I di
Indian conditions
diti lik CONTIFUR
like
need special attention

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 THANK YOU

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