Characteristic Features of the Gas Injection Process in Oxygen Converters That Use Iron-Containing Slag Produced During Steel Smelting

We describe the characteristic features of the steel smelting process in the 160-metric-ton converters at EVRAZ Consolidated West Siberian Metallurgical Plant JSC for the case where 10-50% of the solid metal charge consists of ferrous converter-slag waste products. Information on the chemical composition of the slag materials and the metal and slag components of the slag/scrap mixture was combined with the scrap consumption rate to quantitatively estimate the change in fundamental process statistics. The parameters of the traditional oxygen-injection process for the 160-metric-ton converters were compared against those for the technology to be discussed in this paper. Both the decrease in the concentration of non-ferrous-metal impurities and the required impurity removal levels at the exit from the converter are specified. The oxidative metal refining production data for the 160-metric ton converters at EVRAZ Consolidated West Siberian Metallurgical Plant JSC and the cost reductions from slag/metal scrap usage indicate that the process is economically promising.