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Metals
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Electric Arc Furnace and Converter Steelmaking
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Electric Arc Furnace and Converter Steelmaking

A special issue of Metals (ISSN 2075-4701). This special issue belongs to the section "Extractive Metallurgy".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2024 | Viewed by 8217

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Thomas Echterhof

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department for Industrial Furnaces and Heat Engineering, RWTH Aachen University, Kopernikustr. 10, 52074 Aachen, Germany
Interests: EAF steelmaking; industrial furnaces; process modelling and simulation; process analysis and optimization
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Ville-Valtteri Visuri

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Process Metallurgy Research Unit, University of Oulu, P.O. Box 4300, 90014 Oulu, Finland
Interests: hot metal pretreatments; electric arc furnaces; converter metallurgy; ladle metallurgy; continuous casting; process modelling and simulation; kinetics and thermodynamics of metallurgical processes
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Electric arc furnace steelmaking is one of the most important steelmaking routes and currently accounts for almost 30% of worldwide crude steel production. In certain regions and countries, such as North America and Europe, the share is significantly higher. Considering the transformation concepts of integrated steel mills to decarbonize their steel production and the increasing scrap availability in Asia, it can be expected that the share of scrap-based EAF steelmaking will continue to increase in the coming decades. Furthermore, EAF serves as the basis for plans to melt DRI produced using hydrogen reduction to produce carbon-free steel.

Traditional converter steelmaking is affected drastically by the challenge to reduce the CO2 emissions of the steel industry. To confront this challenge, steelmakers are looking for ways to improve the material and energy efficiency of the converter processes further. While converters might not be relevant for producing steel from high-quality DRI, a two-step process consisting of a smelter and basic oxygen furnace (BOF) has been envisaged as a potential route for producing steel from low-quality DRI. With regard to stainless steelmaking, argon–oxygen decarburization (AOD) and comparable converter processes based on the dilution principle form the basis of the contemporary EAF–AOD duplex route, which can be supplemented with vacuum oxygen decarburization (VOD) to form the EAF–AOD–VOD triplex route for producing most demanding stainless steel grades. Furthermore, vacuum lids have been developed to combine the benefits of dilution and vacuum principles in a single process.

In this Special Issue of Metals, we welcome contributions on recent advances in all aspects of electric arc furnace and converter steelmaking, including, but not limited to, process optimization and efficiency, the application of new sensors and equipment, reduction in CO2 emissions and environmental impact, process modelling and simulation, scrap handling and alternative/new charge materials, as well as slag properties and valorisation. We also encourage the submission of reviews on EAF steelmaking technologies.

Dr. Thomas Echterhof
Dr. Ville-Valtteri Visuri
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Metals is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • electric arc furnace
  • steelmaking
  • sustainability
  • modelling
  • process optimization

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

13 pages, 1277 KiB  
Article
Consequences of the Direct Reduction and Electric Steelmaking Grid Creation on the Italian Steel Sector
by Gianluca Dall’Osto, Davide Mombelli and Carlo Mapelli
Metals 2024, 14(3), 311; https://doi.org/10.3390/met14030311 - 6 Mar 2024
Viewed by 804
Abstract
The consequences on the Italian steel sector following the conversion of the sole integrated steel plant and the establishment of a direct reduction/electric arc furnace (DR/EAF) grid in the period 2022–2050 were analyzed. Imported natural gas (pathway 0), green hydrogen (pathway 1) and [...] Read more.
The consequences on the Italian steel sector following the conversion of the sole integrated steel plant and the establishment of a direct reduction/electric arc furnace (DR/EAF) grid in the period 2022–2050 were analyzed. Imported natural gas (pathway 0), green hydrogen (pathway 1) and biomethane (pathway 2) were studied as possible reducing gases to be exploited in the DR plant and to be introduced as a methane substitute in EAFs. The results showed that the environmental targets for the sustainable development scenario could be achieved in both 2030 and 2050. In particular, the main reduction would occur by 2030 as a result of the cease of the integrated plant itself, allowing for an overall reduction of 71% of the CO2 emitted in 2022. On the other hand, reaching the maximum production capacity of the DR plants by 2050 (6 Mton) would result in final emission reductions of 25%, 80% and 35% for pathways 0, 1 and 2, respectively. Finally, the creation of a DR/EAF grid would increase the energy demand burden, especially for pathway 1, which would require three times as much green energy as pathway 0 and/or 2 (36 TWh/y vs. ca. 12 TWh/y). Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Electric Arc Furnace and Converter Steelmaking)
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27 pages, 13043 KiB  
Article
Impact of Injection Rate on Flow Mixing during the Refining Stage in an Electric Arc Furnace
by Orlando Ugarte, Neel Busa, Bikram Konar, Tyamo Okosun and Chenn Q. Zhou
Metals 2024, 14(2), 134; https://doi.org/10.3390/met14020134 - 23 Jan 2024
Viewed by 889
Abstract
During the refining stage of electric arc furnace (EAF) operation, molten steel is stirred to facilitate gas/steel/slag reactions and the removal of impurities, which determines the quality of the steel. The stirring process can be driven by the injection of oxygen, which is [...] Read more.
During the refining stage of electric arc furnace (EAF) operation, molten steel is stirred to facilitate gas/steel/slag reactions and the removal of impurities, which determines the quality of the steel. The stirring process can be driven by the injection of oxygen, which is carried out by burners operating in lance mode. In this study, a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) platform is used to simulate the liquid steel flow dynamics in an industrial-scale scrap-based EAF. The CFD platform simulates the three-dimensional, transient, non-reacting flow of the liquid steel bath stirred by oxygen injection to analyze the mixing process. In particular, the CFD study simulates liquid steel flow in an industrial-scale EAF with three asymmetric coherent jets, which impacts the liquid steel mixing under different injection conditions. The liquid steel mixing is quantified by defining two variables: the mixing time and the standard deviation of the flow velocity. The results indicate that the mixing rate of the bath is determined by flow dynamics near the injection cavities and that the formation of very low-velocity regions or ‘dead zones’ at the center of the furnace and the balcony regions prevents flow mixing. This study includes a baseline case, where oxygen is injected at 1000 SCFM in all the burners. Two sets of cases are also included: The first set considers cases where oxygen is injected at a reduced and at an increased uniform flow rate, 750 and 1250 SCFM, respectively. The second set considers cases with non-uniform injection rates in each burner, which keep the same total flow rate of the baseline case, 3000 SCFM. Comparison between the two sets of simulations against the baseline case shows that by increasing the uniform flow rate from 1000 to 1250 SCFM, the mixing time is reduced by 10.9%. Moreover, all the non-uniform injection cases reduce the mixing time obtained in the baseline case. However, the reduction in mixing times in these cases is accompanied by an increase in the standard deviations of the flow field. Among the non-uniform injection cases, the largest reduction in mixing time compared to the baseline case is 10.2%, which is obtained when the largest flow rates are assigned to coherent jets located opposite each other across the furnace. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Electric Arc Furnace and Converter Steelmaking)
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0 pages, 1863 KiB  
Article
Biocoke Thermochemical Properties for Foamy Slag Formations in Electric Arc Furnace Steelmaking
by Lina Kieush, Johannes Schenk, Andrii Koveria and Andrii Hrubiak
Metals 2024, 14(1), 13; https://doi.org/10.3390/met14010013 - 21 Dec 2023
Viewed by 828
Abstract
This paper is devoted to studying the thermochemical properties of carbon sources (laboratory-scale conventional coke, biocoke with 5 wt.%, and 10 wt.% wood pellet additions) and the influence of these properties on foamy slag formations at 1600 °C. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) conducted under [...] Read more.
This paper is devoted to studying the thermochemical properties of carbon sources (laboratory-scale conventional coke, biocoke with 5 wt.%, and 10 wt.% wood pellet additions) and the influence of these properties on foamy slag formations at 1600 °C. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) conducted under air unveiled differences in mass loss among carbon sources, showing an increasing order of coke < biocoke with 5 wt.% wood pellets < biocoke with 10 wt.% wood pellets. The Coats–Redfern method was used to calculate and reveal distinct activation energies among these carbon sources. Slag foaming tests performed using biocoke samples resulted in stable foam formation, indicating the potential for biocoke as a carbon source to replace those conventionally used for this process. Slag foaming characters for biocoke with 5 wt.% wood pellets were improved more than coke. Using biocoke with 10 wt.% wood pellets was marginally worse than coke. On the one hand, for biocoke with 5 wt.% wood pellets, due to increased reactivity, the foaming time was reduced, but it was sufficient and optimal for slag foaming. Conversely, biocoke with 10 wt.% wood pellets reduced foaming time, proving insufficient and limiting the continuity of the foaming. This study highlights that thermochemical properties play a significant role, but comprehensive assessment should consider multiple parameters when evaluating the suitability of unconventional carbon sources for slag foaming applications. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Electric Arc Furnace and Converter Steelmaking)
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12 pages, 6316 KiB  
Article
The Behavior of Direct Reduced Iron in the Electric Arc Furnace Hotspot
by Andreas Pfeiffer, Daniel Ernst, Heng Zheng, Gerald Wimmer and Johannes Schenk
Metals 2023, 13(5), 978; https://doi.org/10.3390/met13050978 - 18 May 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 4274
Abstract
Hydrogen-based direct reduction is a promising technology for CO2 lean steelmaking. The electric arc furnace is the most relevant aggregate for processing direct reduced iron (DRI). As DRI is usually added into the arc, the behavior in this area is of great [...] Read more.
Hydrogen-based direct reduction is a promising technology for CO2 lean steelmaking. The electric arc furnace is the most relevant aggregate for processing direct reduced iron (DRI). As DRI is usually added into the arc, the behavior in this area is of great interest. A laboratory-scale hydrogen plasma smelting reduction (HPSR) reactor was used to analyze that under inert conditions. Four cases were compared: carbon-free and carbon-containing DRI from DR-grade pellets as well as fines from a fluidized bed reactor were melted batch-wise. A slag layer’s influence was investigated using DRI from the BF-grade pellets and the continuous addition of slag-forming oxides. While carbon-free materials show a porous structure with gangue entrapments, the carburized DRI forms a dense regulus with the oxides collected on top. The test with slag-forming oxides demonstrates the mixing effect of the arc’s electromagnetic forces. The cross-section shows a steel melt framed by a slag layer. These experiments match the past work in that carburized DRI is preferable, and material feed to the hotspot is critical for the EAF operation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Electric Arc Furnace and Converter Steelmaking)
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