Analytical Evaluation of Heat Flow in Oxygen Steelmaking

Dynamic models for a BOF (Basic oxygen furnace) process have been developed to quantitatively capture the variation in refining kinetics and heat flow during the blowing period. Previous studies have developed extensive models to understand the kinetics and reaction mechanisms for a BOF process. The understanding of heat flow during the refining period helps in optimizing the process interms of energy consumption and minimizing the overall excess heat (heat losses). The present work aims to develop an approach that will capture the heat flow during the blowing period once the refining profiles are known. In the present calculation the instantaneous heats were calculated based on the refining profiles from Cicutti et al.1) industrial trial and Imphos pilot plant data.2) The developed model reveals different possibilities for process optimization by identifying the periods of overall excess energy formation. It was observed by compiling Cicutti’s data that an average of 7.5 MJ/min/t of hot metal excess heat is generated during the blowing period spanning from 6 to 14 minutes. Moreover, the present study demonstrates that the parameters such as scrap quantity, flux added, and oxygen flowrate can play a vital role in optimizing the process in terms of the utilization of the overall excess energy during the refining period.