Coupled modelling of electric arc furnace and ladle furnace processes

In the present investigation, a coupled mass and heat balance model for the analysis of the metallurgical processes that occur in the electric arc furnace and in the ladle furnace processes is proposed. One goal of this work was to create a simple spreadsheet based model to help with the selection of the correct process parameters for a chosen final chemical composition, quality level and production costs. The model proposed in this work was validated with reference to two operating modalities, using actual manufacturing plant data as well as specific data obtained from the literature. It was then used to obtain guidelines for the optimised production of low P steels and the realisation of a dephosphorisation map. © 2010 Maney Publishing.