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All content following this page was uploaded by Somnath Kumar on 16 October 2015.
*Ex-CEO, IISCO Steel Plant, Burnpur, Steel Authority of India Ltd. **R & D Centre for Iron & Steel, SAIL, Ranchi, India
e-mail nkjha0509@gmail.com (corresponding Author)
e Shop logistics;
7 Primary blowing (till major decarburization is achieved)
8 Termination of primary blowing, slagging off, sampling and temperature measurement
e Product chemistry requirement;
9 Analysis of sample
e Hot metal chemistry and temperature;
10 Setting finishing blow parameters based on results of sample analysis
e Steelmaking method followed.
11 Finishing blow
12 Sampling, temperature measurement
13 Tapping of liquid steel into steel ladle, Ferro alloy addition, bottom stirring (as required) Any effort to increase productivity by
14 Slag splashing, dumping residual slag reducing cycle time involves changes in
15 Start of next cycle one or all of these factors. In conventional
turndown practice the furnaces are
Table 2: Sub-processes of BOF steelmaking blown to the ‘endpoint’ to measure the
temperature and dissolved oxygen content
eliminating the intermittent checking of purity oxygen to oxidise carbon, silicon, (in ppm) of the steel bath and to obtain
endpoint parameters – of the BOF is one sulphur, and phosphorus in the charge steel and slag samples prior to tapping.
solution. lowering each to acceptable levels. A BOF In this case the blow finish to tapping
This article explores the method and shop capable of treating a heat size of 270- start time ranges from 10-14 minutes.
pros and cons of straight blowing. 280t in about 45-50 minutes is considered In some cases the tap is delayed until the
optimal. Bath agitation is implemented at turndown steel analysis is received from
Steelmaking at BSL the start of blowing or after the main de- the laboratory to ensure a satisfactory
The Steel Melting Shop-II of Bokaro carburisation cycle, via bottom blowing level of impurities content.
Steel Ltd (BSL) – a member of India’s of argon and/or nitrogen. Slag formation,
SAIL group – produces a variety of steel CO bubbles, and close to equilibrium state Minor corrections
grades through the BOF-Ladle Furnace conditions, are better achieved by this The BOF converter has superior de-
– Continuous Casting route to meet bottom gas injection. phosphorylation ability. If the incoming
the stringent quality requirements of The basic operational steps of the phosphorus in the hot metal is low and
customers. SMS-II produces around 3Mt process are shown schematically in Fig 2. consistent, tapping is permitted as soon as
of low carbon aluminium killed cast slabs This involves receiving hot metal from the turndown tests samples are taken, without
every year. mixer – scrap charging – hot metal pouring waiting for sample analysis2, 4. Any minor
Varieties of steel grades regularly
produced include LPG, EDD, WTCR,
SAILMA, HSFQ and IS2062. SMS-II
consists of two 2500t mixers, two 300t
BOFs with bottom purging facility, two
300t ladle furnaces and two twin strand
slab casters. The charge to the combined
blowing BOF converters normally consists
of around 260-270t of BF hot metal from Main blow
Hot metal from mixer Scrap charging Hot metal pouring
the mixers and 35-40t of scrap depending
on the silicon level of the BF hot metal.
Other fluxes used are lime (~12t), calcined
dolomite (~7-8t), and dolomite chips (5-
6t). The blowing time ranges from 16-
17 minutes and tapping under normal
conditions takes eight to nine minutes.
The average tapping temperature ranges
Sampling
between 1660-1680°C. The process flow Corrective blow
(if required)
Tapping De-slagging
of quick-tap depends on consistently and composition. Static models are mass blow (post slagging off) is occasionally
meeting the sulphur and phosphorus and energy balances that account for the dry. This doesn’t happen in straight blows.
specification. This procedure can save initial conditions (scrap and hot metal The result is higher lance life.
three to six minutes of laboratory analysis temperatures and compositions) and the e In theory, a lower FeO content in the
time. desired end-point conditions of the bath slag is expected leading to better yield and
These shops simply proceed immediately and slag, and indicate to the operator higher vessel life (FeO mobility towards
to tapping the furnace. the expected total oxygen and fluxes that vessel walls causes refractory erosion).
Some North American shops have are required to reach that end-point. The e In the case of the conventional
adopted a simplified version of the quick- blow is stopped once the pre-determined process, open combustion takes place
tap practice. A few have sub-lances. amount of oxygen has been reached. twice in every cycle as against only once
Others use bomb drop-in thermocouples In addition to the charge model, the when using straight blows. The following
(Fig 3) with or without oxygen sensors. operator relies on other signals, such as advantages result:
Here a heavy cast iron bomb assembly the change in the colour of the flame at a. Higher hood and skirt life;
with a specially wound and protected the mouth of the vessel and a characteristic b. Reduced load on gas recovery system
wire coil is dropped into the furnace. drop in the steam flow in the fume system due to elimination of one phase of open
The wire lasts long enough to take a cooling circuit, to identify when the combustion system;
reading. The readings are more accurate carbon has been depleted3. c. Converter gas (fuel) recovery
if oxygen blowing is stopped, but some In practice, static charge models have a marginally improves;
shops achieve a usable reading even limited ability to predict end-point because d. Duration of refractory-liquid steel
during the blow. Again, tramp elements, they do not account for process dynamics. contact is reduced.
S, P and other residuals are assumed to End-point accuracy is also affected by
be acceptable and tapping proceeds uncertainties in the initial conditions (eg Cons – the down side
immediately. Some shops equipped with mass, temperature and composition of e Due to higher opening temperature,
only two BOF vessels use this technique to the hot-metal, mass and type of scrap the chemistry sometimes goes off
minimise production losses when one of and fluxes added) and by variations in the specification leading to pressure on
the furnaces is being relined or repaired. efficiency of the oxygen lance, not only secondary refining of the steel. Particular
within a heat as the height and flow of the difficulty is faced in dephosphorisation as
Development of Straight Blowing lance is varied, but also from heat to heat the chances of phosphorus reversal are
Practice as the lance wears and the geometry of higher at higher temperatures.
Priority was given at BSL to reduce the the vessel changes with refractory wear3. e Difficulty in maintaining higher
cycle time of BOF steelmaking so as to In the modified process of steelmaking temperature gradient throughout the
increase the productivity of the shop. After at SMS-II, the entire amount of oxygen blowing period.
thorough investigation and deliberation it required is blown in one go at a e Marginally higher consumption of
was concluded that minimising the time predetermined rate thereby combining fluxes.
between the finish of blowing to start the former primary and finishing blows. e Straight blown heats usually carry
tapping is an attractive way to reduce the Activities 8-11 in Table 2 are thus higher oxygen content. Hence, more
BOF cycle time since changing the charge eliminated without altering any other deoxidisers are often required.
size of the converter or changing shop activity. Studies have shown that the e An important negative aspect of
logistics would require a large investment cycle time is reduced by 15% to 20% by straight blows is that steel is at a higher
in capital and time to implement. this process4. The productivity of the steel temperature and the slag stays in contact
To achieve a shorter time between melting shop increases proportionately4. with the vessel refractory for a longer
finishing the blow to start of tapping a This process will henceforth be called period. This reduces vessel refractory life,
new process of steelmaking has been ‘steel making by straight blows’ in this but a counter factor is a lower FeO in the
formulated. A static model was used to article. Fig 4 indicates such steelmaking slag which makes it less aggressive where
calculate the desired endpoint temperature by straight blows. refractory erosion is concerned.
www.steeltimesint.com July/August 2015
23.4
24 89 88.6 88.64 88.34
Straight blow %
21.3
88 87.3
21
87
18 86
85
15 84
02-03 03-04 04-05 05-06 06-07 07-08 05-06 06-07 07-08 08-09 09-10 10-11 11-12 12-13
Years Years
Trial Results Fig 5: Improvement in num- Fig 6: Percentage of straight blown heats over a period of time
The straight blow practice was fully ber of heats per day after
implemented at BSL, Bokaro. In the implementation of straight
% Reblow heats % FeO in turndown slag
previous practice, the operator had to blow practice
28 23
decide, before the start of the blow, how
22
the oxygen blow would progress; what 23