Industrial and Agricultural
Published by TheEPRI Center for Materials Production
Introduction
The steel industry is comprised
of electric arc furnace (EAF) and
integrated steel producers. There
are significant differences between
these steelmaking processes. EAF
steelmakers, often referredto as
minimills, producesteel by melting
scrap, see Figure 1. The integrated
steel mills produce steel from iron
ore utilizingthe blast furnace and
basic oxygen furnaceprocesses.
In the integratedprocess, the
blast furnace is provided with
energy in the form of coke which is
mixed with ironore pellets/sinter
and limestoneto constitute afur-
nace burden. Liquid iron, containing
approximately 4% dissolved carbon
Photo courtesy of Fuchs
Figure 1. A 95-ton, 80-MVA dc Single ShaftArc Furnace in cantly over the
Operation at North Star Steel, Kingman, Arizona.
Technologies and Services
is tapped from the bottom the of
furnace into hot-metal cars and
transferred to the basic oxygen
furnace (BOF).The metallic charge
to the BOF consists of 60 to 70%
hot metal from the blast furnace
and 30 to 40% steel scrap. The
primary functionof the BOF is to
refine the liquid iron tosteel by
reducing the carbonto a prescribed
level, generally less than 0.5%. as
well as removing impurities such Figure 2. DC Electric Arc Furnace.
as silicon, sulfur, and phosphorus.
This is accomplishedby injecting
century. In 1996, approximately 39%
oxygen into the bathand the
of the totalof 103 million tons of
addition of fluxes.
steel shipped was made in EAFs
With EAF steelmaking, normally
with thebalance produced by the
100% scrap steel is charged to the
blast furnace/basic oxygen process.
furnace. In the process, oxygen is
The total energy required to make
also injected and fluxesadded to
one ton of liquidsteel in an EAF is
control carbon content and remove
about 640 k w h or 6.4 million
impurities. As
Btuhon (including electricalenergy,
more high quality
burners, and other chemicalener-
steel products are
gy) which is only a fractionof the
being produced
19 million Btuhonrequired using the
by EAFs, steelmak-
ers are beginning blast furnacebasic oxygen furnace
method.
to supplement the
After melting and refining, the
scrap charge with
liquid steel is transportedto a
direct reduced iron
continuous casting machine where
(DRI) and iron
it is cast and solidified. However, a
carbide. The
few ingot mold shops still exist.
details ofEAF steel
Continuous casting machines
production are
described in a produce semifinished sections, i.e.,
billets, blooms, and slabs. Ingots
subsequent CMP
require an additional rollingopera-
TechCommenrary
tion toproduce the semifinished
titled “Under-
standing Electric shapes. Final steel products, strip,
Arc Furnace sheets, bars, rods, plates, tubes,
etc., are manufactured from the
Operations”
semifinished section: ;ng avari-
(TC-107714).
ety ofrollingmills ar. xesses.
Because -. ~. .
the EAF process
IS more energy The Electric Arc Furnace
efficient and less
capital is required, The first commercial EAF in the
production ofsteel United States, a 4-tOn unit, was
by EAFs has placed in operation in 1906 by the
increased signifi- Holcomb Steel Co. at Syracuse,
New York. Production increased sig-
past quarter of a nificantly during World War II, and
 Basic
Oxygen
Furnace Ladle Refining

m-
Ore Blast Furnace
1 ml

Limestone

aCoke

a-
Natural Gas
Coal
Oil
Oxygen

Scrap
l- Electric Arc Furnace

THE STE
DRI Iron Carbide
Iron
Pig Blast Fur

Electric 1

again after 1960 with theadvent of lined hearth, vertical cylindrical tapping liquidsteel into a ladle.
mini steel mills. Electric furnace sidewalls, and a removable roof. Electric power is supplied from a
steel production increased steadily The graphite electrodes, which pass 3-phase, multivoltage tap trans-
from 8.4 million tons in 1960 to 42.4 through holesin the roof, are former. The electrodes are connect-
million tons in1995, or 39% of total clamped to arms which move verti- ed byheavy flexible cables to the
steel production. It is expected that cally on masts mounted to the transformer which is locatedas
EAF steel production will reach 50% furnace assembly. The electrodes close to the furnaceas possible to
within the next 10 years. and roofcan be raised and swung avoid excessive transmission loss
The rapid growth inelectric to one side to permit furnace charg- with theheavy currents employed.
furnace steel is due to a number of ing. In conventional furnaces, a Most ac furnaces, see Figure 3, have
factors including relatively low horizontal tapping spout is built into three-electrodes, though some
investment requirements, improved the hearth structure with a working newer furnaces are dc one- ortwo-
technology which has reduced door located diametrically opposite electrodes, see Figure 2. Many
production costs, and the generally in the sidewall. The entire furnace modern electric arc furnaces also
lower price of steel scrap in com- unit can be tilted onrockers for are equipped with oxy-fuel burners
parison with blast furnace hot
metal. Capital investment per
annual ton ofhot-rolled sheets
(1996 dollars) is approximately$750
for coke oven/blast furnace, basic
oxygen furnace productionvs.
$213 for electric furnaces.
Approximately 222 electric arc
furnaces, ranging in capacity from
less than 10 to 400 tons, areoperated
in the UnitedStates by integrated,
specialty, and minimill producers.
Electric furnaces also are used
in some foundry operations with
their use doubling since 1957. In
general, furnace capacities here
are smaller (oneto 60 tons) than
in basic steel operations. Steel
foundries are the principalusers
of electric arc furnaces. There are
approximately 185 foundries with
EAFs in the UnitedStates. Figure 3. An ac Electric Arc Furnacewith an Oxygen
EAFs consist ofa refractory- Lance and EccentricBottom Tapping.

TechCommenrarv 2
Continuous
Casting
Rolling & Other Sheet
Mill Processing Oxygen injection for cutting
scrap and decarburization to
reduce refining time.
Lime injectiont o reduce pro-
Plate cessing time andheat loss.
Foamy slags t o shield sidewalls
and rooffrom heat radiation
from thearcs. This practice
permits theuse of maximum
Rod available secondary voltage
through the use of longarcs
with high powerfactors.
Computer controlto optimize
electric power programming
and automatic tap changing
Bar based on furnace condition
and power demand. More
complex systems provide
control of metallurgical
parameters (tap temperature
Thls slmplifted Rowchart IS lmended to and timing of process events),
CYCLE provlde a brood overwew to me technology
end roleof electncitv in me steel manufactur-
mg process. Most operabonsare custom
data logging, and least-cost
charge calculations, etc.
dewgned for me appllcabon ata panicular
sic Oxygen Steelmaking facllny and may Include equipment or process- Arc stability is an important
es not deplcted hare. F o r help WUI rpeclfic
oppbca0ons. talklo your elmmc ub nly marketst-
factor in the operation of an electric
~ c eSteelmaking * Ing representative or an equlpmem supplter. arc furnace. At the beginning of the
melting period, power input is
limited byunstable arcs which can
also cause flicker in the primary
voltage line. Flicker is of concern
and lances for injectingoxygen, close to 1 hour. Power consumption with increasing transformer power.
lime, and carbon. for an efficient operation shouldbe However, most new UHP meltshops
Energy input consists of in the range of 360 to 400 kWhhon. are equipped with static VAR gener-
approximately 60% electrical and Thus, for a consumption of400 ators for thisreason. Also, flicker
40% chemical which isderived kWh/ton, the monthlyelectrical is reduced significantly when a dc
from oxy-fuel combustion, oxida- consumption would be approxi- EAF is used to meltsteel.
tion ofcarbon, and other chemical mately 20 million kwh. Additional state-of-the-art
reactions. Approximately 53% of Total usage of electric power developments currently being
the totalenergy is retainedin the for the42.4 million tonsproduced introduced to improvefurnace
liquid steel; heat loss in thewaste in the UnitedStates i n 1995 was performance as well as steel
gases is 20%, cooling losses from approximately 17 billion kwh. quality include:
the walls and roof17%, with 10% The cost of producingsteel
lost in theslag. in electric furnaces varies consid- Eccentric bottom tappingto
reduce tap times, reduce tem-
erably. The major componentis
perature losses, and avoidslag
Operations and Costs raw materials 63%, followed by
contamination in the ladle.
electric power 8%, labor 5%,
maintenance including refractories Oxygen and carbon injection
At the Stan aofheat cycle, with
4%, electrodes 2%, dust disposal to provide additional heat from
the electrodes and roofraised and oxidation ofcarbon.
swung toone side, a charge of steel 1.4%, oxygen usage I%, and the
scrap is dropped into the furnace balance fixed costs. Coated/water-cooled electrodes
from a clamshell bucket. The roof to reduce electrode consumption.
is replaced, electrodes lowered, Special Features Scrap preheating to recover
and an arc struck. Arc length is energy from furnace waste
optimized to meet the changing Modern furnaces are equipped gases.
conditions during the melting with a variety of features to increase Single electrode dc furnaces to
process by selecting the appropri- production rates, reduce heat times, reduce electrode consumption
ate voltage tap. Two, and some- and lower operatingcosts. They and flicker.
times threebuckets of scrap, are include:
used in making a single heat of In summary, modern electric arc
Ultra HighPower (UHP)trans- furnace steelmaking istypified by:
steel. After melting and refiningare formers. Power levels of 600
completed, the heat is tappedinto to1000 kVAhon are being Productivity in excess of
a ladle for casting. installed. 100 tons/hr.
A typical modern meltshop,
Water-cooled sidewalls and Steel scrap and DRI as a raw
containing one 19-ft. dia., 120-ton
roofs to reduce refractory costs. material.
furnace with a 70-MVA transformer,
would have an annual melting Oxy-fuel burnersto supplement Separate ladle refining furnace
capacity of approximately600,000 heat input and improve that allows theEAF to be a
tons. Average heat times wouldbe melting efficiency. melter only. 3

Te-hCOmmentanr -
 Electric Arc Furnace
Eficiency, CMP Report
92-10, December 1992.
"Electric FurnaceSteelmaking", AIME, Iron and Steel
Society, Warrendale, Pa., 1985.
"Electric An: Furnace Technology, Recent Developments
and Future Trends".Teoh, L. L., lronmaking and
Steelmaking, Vol. 16, 1989.
"The Making, Shaping and Treating ofSteel, Tenth
Edition", Association of Iron and SteelEngineers,
Pmsburgh,Pa. 1985.
"New Developments in Electric Arc Furnace
"Oxy-Fuel Burner Technologyfor Electric Arc Furnaces",
Wells M.B., Vonesh F.A., Iron & Steelmaker, November,
1986.
"Reflectionson the Possibilities and Limitations of Cost
Saving in Steel Production in Electric Arc Furnaces",
Klein IC, Paul G., Metallurgical Plant and Technology,
Vol.1, 1989.
Review of New Ironmaking Technologies and Potential
for Power Generation, CMP Repon95-1, February 1995.
"Use of Energiesin Electric FurnaceSteelmaking Shops",
Schroeder, D. L., 1990 Electric Furnace Proceedings.

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Edited by JohnKollar, CMP.
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