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Any pressure exerted on the blast furnace operator in handling system is carefully balanced in order to
addition to environmental and economic pressure ensure that the large amount of heat added by the
from governments and the market may seriously liquid metal will be removed.
jeopardize a plant’s competitiveness. Sub–standard
process stability will be felt all along the production
process, while avoiding this will undermine economy
of operations. Eliminating the anomaly of having to
synchronize a continuous process and a batch–wise
process and being able to optimize the blast furnace
process as if it were isolated is of great value to any
steelmaker.
Control of hot metal flow is achieved by tapping into a The GRANSHOT process has some inherent
tundish, where the nozzle limits the volume output. characteristics that make it highly suitable to handle
The hot metal exits the tundish and strikes a solidification of hot metals in Iron & Steel plants:
refractory spray–head as to form liquid metal • Short stand–by time, typically 20–30 minutes
droplets, Figure 2. These are evenly distributed over • Rapid processing time of 30 seconds from hot
the granulation tank’s water surface, immediately metal to a cooled granule
quenched as they hit the cooling water surface. • Unaltered chemical analysis due to rapid
quenching
The temperature of the iron granules is lowered as • Close to 100% process yield
they sink to the bottom, exchanging heat with the • Rugged process with high availability, low on staff
counter–flowing cooling water. The water cooling and and with limited maintenance
After preheating of tundish and nozzle for some 20– process disruptions for the blast furnace. These
30 minutes the process is ready for use. The stand– disruptions are highly detrimental.
alone granulation unit is completely automated,
allowing one person to run the entire operation. The Implementing GRANSHOT eliminates the detrimental
through–put time is around 30 seconds and has a consequences for the blast furnace process of the
process yield of close to 100%, which is a great lack of buffering capacity. Beaching and pig casting
improvement over traditional sand pit pooling and do the same, albeit at far inferior environmental
crushing operations. The granule itself has due to the performance and for a much harder to process end
rapid quenching process preserved the hot metal product (see applicable paragraphs).
analysis. The granule shape, flattened sphere,
results in a high bulk density of some 4000 kg/m3 The Blast Furnace Process
and a high angle of repose, which allows for effective Although the blast furnace process is continuous in
transport and storage. The rugged and in–use proven nature, it can be disrupted if the tapped hot metal
equipment design ensures highest availability and a cannot be processed downstream. However, the
minimum of maintenance. ability to accommodate these disruptions comes at a
substantial penalty in terms of carbon source
Since the inception of the GRANSHOT process, it consumption. Steering the process away from its
has been implemented at numerous plants around optimum coke rate comes at higher cost and
the world and for numerous applications. increased environmental footprint. In addition,
GRANSHOT is fully flexible with respect to the type process disruptions make it harder to maintain a fully
of metal that is granulated in the unit; the stable process. A stable process, with minimized
straightforward nature of the process allows for chemical, thermal and mechanical attack, is pivotal
implementation in all industries without fundamental for achieving maximum campaign lives. Process
changes. escalations, which are not unlikely, especially when
the furnace is operated on raw materials of lower
Implementation in Integrated and/or varying quality, may be catastrophic and risk
Steelmaking thereof should be minimized or preferably eliminated
When the GRANSHOT unit is implemented in an wherever possible.
integrated steel plant to eliminate buffering
requirement in hot metal logistics, the unit can be Upstream Implementation
located either at the blast furnace site or closer to or Implementation of GRANSHOT close to the blast
inside the BOF shop complex. Both locations have furnace or blast furnaces may be the obvious choice
their advantages. The final choice for a location may in most cases. An advantage of upstream
be dictated by the capacity balance between the implementation is the ability to feed hot metal to the
blast furnace and BOF side of pig iron logistics. GRANSHOT unit over a “hot” connection. If
Whatever the variety of contributing factors, the casthouse lay–out (and in the case of multiple blast
selection of the location for the GRANSHOT unit furnace operations, furnace location) allows, this may
deserves due investigation based on solid be a feasible option. Also, the blast furnace
operational knowledge and experience. department is usually responsible for supplying hot
metal to the BOF plant as well as keeping the blast
Plant Logistics furnace performance at an optimum and this is where
Synchronizing a blast furnace, which strives for GRANSHOT fits in.
maximum stability, with a BOF steel plant, which is
operated batch–wise and has to produce various Downstream Implementation
steel grades and dimensions, is difficult and Although it may not be the responsibility of the BOF
sometimes seemingly impossible. The most common plant to accept any hot metal that the blast furnace
way of tackling this in integrated steelmaking logistics produces, implementation of GRANSHOT at the BOF
means disrupting production. In reality this means premises may be very attractive given its
that when one unit is experiencing operational advantages. Firstly, it allows for hot metal to be
problems the other will be idled. Thus the total metal granulated after it has been desulphurized, which is
flow through the plant is disrupted. impossible with granulation at the blast furnace.
Secondly, granulating caster returns is possible in
Disturbances in the production units downstream case plant operators decide it is too expensive, too
may in some cases require the Blast Furnace to unattractive or simply impossible to repair an off–
reduce its production rate. Whether or not this can be spec heat, since GRANSHOT can be used to
avoided depends on the available buffering capacity granulate any metal, including liquid BOF steel.
of the fleets of torpedo and hot metal transfer ladles. Additionally, existing overhead cranes for handling of
Insufficient buffering capacities induce more frequent ladles and tundishes can be used when GRANSHOT
is installed at the BOF premises.
1,400
excellent for raw material handling with conveyor Global consumption of finished steel
Global production of crude steel
Driven by China, steel production
and consumption are showing
belt, magnet, front–end loader, bin systems and 1,200
Global obsolete scrap recovery base* unprecedented growth from 2002,
especially in tonnage terms…
scrap skip. 1,000
Scrap
tightness
02
03
04
05
06
07
08
09
*
combustion
10
19
19
19
20
20
20
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
Source: WSA, SteelConsult analysis
Notes: *Calculated as moving average of finished steel consumption during previous 15
years
Blast Furnace Feedstock As indicated above, blast furnace quality iron sources
At times when hot metal demand from downstream have a chemical composition that is advantageous
facilities exceeds the reduction capacity of the blast when compared to DRI/HBI. Beside the considerably
furnace, stockpiled GPI may be top–fed into the blast higher (fully reduced) iron content, the higher carbon
furnace to be melted. This is an excellent solution for content introduces benefits for the EAF process as
achieving a temporarily increased output. The GPI, well.
which was excess hot metal at an earlier time, re–
enters the process in liquid form and before the
desulphurization plant.