Modeling and Energy Efficiency Analysis of the Steelmaking Process in an Electric Arc Furnace

This paper presents a comprehensive model of an industrial electric arc furnace (EAF) that is based upon several rigorous first-principles submodels of the heat exchange in the EAF and practical experience from an industrial melt shop. The model is suited for process simulation, optimization, and control applications. It assumes that the energy demand of the process is satisfied by six sources, the electric arc, the oxy-fuel burners, the oxygen lances, the combustion of coal, and the oxidation of metal in the liquid and in the solid phase. The energy exchange between the liquid and the solid phase due to liquid metal splashing is also considered. The different mechanisms of heat exchange are represented in the model as follows: (a) the radiative heat exchange from the arc to the other phases is computed using the DC circuit analogy, where the view factors are calculated using exact formulae and Monte-Carlo algorithms. (b) The energy input from the oxy-fuel burner is modeled using simplified geometries for which heat transfer relationships are known. (c) The amount of heat released by the oxidation of solid metal is described by the quadratic corrosion formula. (d) The energy exchange from the bath to the solid phase due to splashing is modeled using relationships and experimental data that are available in the literature. The model contains the melting rates and the efficiency of the oxygen lancing as free parameters; their values were computed by a least squares fit to process data of an industrial Ultra-High-Power EAF. In comparison with existing EAF models, the model presented here describes the dynamic behavior of the melting process more realistically. Based on the model, time-dependent energy efficiency curves for the various contributions and for the overall process are computed and discussed.