A Study of Scrap Heating By Burners. Part I: Experiments

A furnace, approximately 1 m3 in capacity, was built to measure the efficiency of heat transfer from a propane-oxygen burner to different types of industrial steel scrap. Supplementary measurements were undertaken to measure the scrap density, size, and void fraction to insure complete combustion of the propane and to measure the extent of scrap oxidation. Local values of temperature in the scrap bed were measured along with the exit temperature of the off gas. The off gas temperature was a direct measurement of the overall efficiency of heating. It was found that smaller and denser scrap was heated more effectively. Configurations that increased the path length of the gas also increased the efficiency of heating. In Part II, a mathematical model is developed to compare with the measured temperatures.