1997 AFRC INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM

M. L a y & X L , B Elewer, Air Products and Chemicals, he. . i . Allentown, PA 18195

Abstract

Energy and E n e o - m a Research Corp. rrvine, CA, 9261s

D MOyeda, M. SheIdon, R Koppang .

mors

EnergyandEnResearch Corp. (EER) under a contract from the Departmento f Energy1 is pursuing the development and demonstdon of SM Advanced Steel Reheating Funnace. This paper reports the results of Phase I, Research, which has evaluated an advanced fumace concept incorporating two proven and commercialized technologies previously applied to other
hi~temperahaecombustionapplications:
e
b

EERs gas rebum technology (GR) post combuston NOx contr01 for A r products oxy-fuel enrichment air (OM)for improved flame heat i transfer in the heatingzones of the furnace.
greaterproduction throughputwith associa?edfurnaceefficiency improvements lowered NOx emissions better ControI over the h a c e atmosphere, whether oxidking or reducing, leading to better control over surface finish.

e e

introduction
Steel reheat furnaces are a work horse of the industry, processing some 100 million tons of steel amualiy while consuming about 150 to 200 1012 BTU. These furnaces fire a variety of fuels, m s commonally by-product and natural gas with heat inputs ranging from 50 to 400 ot MMBtu/hr. Because high tempratwe steel (e2200OF) is produced, furnaceefficiencies tend t be o low (30 to 60 %), even when recuperated. Further, these furnaces can be bottle necks when expanding a rolling mill, requiring major modificatons such as hearth enlargement andlor burner zone additions. They are also typicaIly large source emitters of NOxy0.2 to 0.4 lb/MMBtu. Permitting for expansions potentiauy increases NO emissionsand may trigger o f e requirements. fst Therefore, what is a required is a technoIogy which can address the issues of NO reduction and c p c expansion singularly or i combination. a ai v n

In the Advanced Steel &heat F _ intq three zones. starting at the finish

=E *-

the heating process is conceptually divided

fully reheatedsteel is discharged

DISCLAIMER
This report was prepared as an account of work sponsored by an agency of the United States Government. Neither the United States Government nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees, make any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disdosed, or reprsents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not necessarily constjtute or imply its endorsement, recommendation,or favoring by the United States Government or any agency thereof. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government or any agency thereof.

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SoakzOne: In this zone,fuel and air ate fired b n g h the existing furnacebuxners at n o d or reduced primary fuel stoichiomew. This zone is not significantly changed fiom n o d operation. The level of NOx exiting the zone is likely to be f&ly significant because of high b a c e . The exhaust then Rows into thenextzane, .

Market Drivers and Objectives

Prehed3unwutZone: In this find zone the f o from the preceding zones lw provides heat, primarily by convection, t the incoming cold steel. Additional air i o s added in this zone t prodaceoveraU fixe1 lean conditions and oxidize all remaining o fuel fragments. O v a air (OFA) is added through new overfire air or existing bmers a furnace gas tempemfum greater than 1600F t insure good CO burnout t o without SignifiCantIy increasing thennalIy generated NOx. The bum out is accdIIlplished d k i e n t l y upstream to ensure that almost all o the fuel heating value f is recovered by heat txansfw to the steel or in the recuperator.

H e d W U m R'gzones: hmedntel upstream ofthe soak zone, the heating zones l * y require highly radiant heat transfer for rapid ramp up to a p p r u ~ l rolling y tempratme. Oxygen enrichment of the combustioI1 air in these zones promotes heat transfer and decreasesfurnace volumetric gas f o s a l with the beneficial lw, l result of haeased productivityand thermalefficiency. Rebuming fuei is injected in the cold steel zone downstream of the primary zone to create a fuel-rich, NOx reduction me. The input NOx reacts with the hydrocarbon fragments formed during oxidation of the rebarnkg fuel, primarily CH species, to produce intermediatespecies such as HCN and NH3, which then undergo a d m sequencewhereby they redace NOXto mol& nitrogen, N . z

The steel industry is an ideal target for enhanced oxygen combustion because the infbtmcture (oxygen separationplants and pipelines) already exists in integrated steel. These facilities are frequentyundesutilhd due to retrenchments in the 80's and the greater use of recyckd scrape, reducing the demand on basic oxygen furnaces. S a l scale, energy efficient ml (A0 TPD)oxygen separation plants using pressure and vacuum swing absorption are now
2

The proposed techoiogy &odd generally be cost effective for steeI heating furnaces with fisingrates>5OMMBtu/hr. Theseflmaceswill typidybethemillbo~eneckand/orarefoundin the Title I ozone non-attabnmt areas. A inumber of steel processing furnaces ( r e h e annealing and galvanizing)are target applications as they c o q i y wt generai requirements o high firing rate ih f a high temperatUtes (>2,200 OF) and with high NOx ( 9 . 2 IwMMBtu). The total number of t furnaces within this demographic range is estimated a about 250, most of which may be t candidates during some part of their economic life as industrial modemzaQ . 'onproceedsandair emission regulationsstiffen. One of the major objectives is a improvement in steel thmughputby i up t 25 9 ,without major strucftrralor combustion system m d f c t o s U i g gas rebum, NOx o 5 o i i a i n . sn reductions using o order 60 to 70% have been &monstrated for glass &aces, f and by analogy, are targeted for steel fiunace. Thermalefficiency improvements are an d a r y benefit; 20% increasesare targeted and result from a conibum of higher productiviy and lower stack exhaust *on sensible heat loss, e.g., less N2 in the flue gas. It appears feasible to control the furnace amosphtxe and -time protiiles to match or improvethoseof an operating fixmace.

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available for m i n i - d applications. High purity oxygen is not reqniredfor the applications and

cansid side ration.

Approach
The technicalapproach has been designed t address and quantify the following key issues: o 0 which temp&we zones can effectively use OEA or and what is the impaa on r e f h c t o r y ~ ?
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Where are the p d furnace Iocations for injecting rebm fuel and overfireair,andaretherepoten~processimpacts?
Are t h e secondary emissions or potential product quality issues caused by 0 2 enrichment a d r iow temperature substoichioxnetric operation? no

The workisbeingconductedinthreephases:
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What are the critical design issues to be addressed in subsequent phases?

How much NOx and furnacegas temperaturec h m p can be expected?

What are the costs of implementation ( 0 2 pmhases and refkactory service) and revenues (productionincreasesand fuel reduction) which can be expected?

This paper r e p on the status of the Phase 1Study. Activities inciude a) an evaluation of USA furnace demognqhics which led to the development of a model furnace specification, b) computational modelling of the model furnace t select and quantify heattraasfer and performance o improvements,and c) conceptual design to establish capital and operating costs and benefits. The Americau Iron and Steel Mtute is supposing this activity by providing peer review through their Energy and Envhnmental Committee. Air Productshas developeda computational fluid dynamic (CFD) model t support the d y s i s of oxygen enhancing heat zone combustion to prefmntidy o h p v e heat transfer t the steeI. The CFD modelling resuits (flow field structure, temperatures, o and species composition) are used as boundary conditions (see Figure 1) for three other cxmpumiodmodek
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Phase II Field Demonstdon i,

Phase II, Design andDevelopment

phase I, R s a c DevelopmentDefinition (Study) eerh

computational(jets i cross f o )and physical flow m d l to evaluate the n lw oe effectiveness of mixing the rebum fuel into the post heat zone flue gases, and overfire air sufficiently downstream to accommodate the mixing and chemistry of the reburn zone

one dimensional (mdti stream tube) chemical kinetic m d l for NO oe reduction and CO oxidationcontrol

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emissions.

a unifying zoned system model t integrate the results from t e CFD and o h gas rebarn physical flow modelling into a prediction of performance attributes including theand production efficiency, and f n NO id

Concepts

Background

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Gas rb technologies for NOx control are beiig c o d a l l y offered for large boilers em and MSW incinerators. In a study for the Gas Research Institute [ w G (Pearson, Moyeda & K o p g , 1994) the feasibility and effectiveness of applying gas reburning technology to industrial equipment w s established for the pyroprocessing industries, and specifically, steel reheat a

Oqrgendchment (OW)conepts are being used to improve the performance of high tempemtm Wroprocessing processes in the energy intensive industries. It is important to note that experience wt OEA i many of these industries has lead to the development of specific ih n burner technologies. One example is the tube bundle b e r commonly seen today on the electtic arc furnace as well as the CIem Fi HR burner system, which has been successfdIy applied to glass and a l m dters. productivity gains up t 40?& have been achieved as well as a 30% o decmase in NOx. Newly developed 0 2 injectionmethods for the iron cupola have shown significant reductions i % coke in the charge. Limited experience, mostly overseas, has shown n that oxy-fixelburners in the heatingzone of a billet furnacecan increaseprodudiviqby 30%. OEA (3%) applied t the heating zone o a billet reheat fumace decreased fuel consumption by 20%, all o f a the expense o higher NO emissions. t f

furnaces.
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The combined technoiogiesshodd obtain the following attractive features:

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better control over scale formaton.

low NOx emissions, paaicularly when r w off-gases contain fuel N or OEA a i n gas path Q=pe-==;

greater produdion throughput with associatedfurnaceefficiency improvements;

Concept Implementation

Continuous reheat furnaces are u e to raise the temperature of the s e l shapes for further sd te high temperature processing. The product flow m a reheas furnace is countercurrent to the fiue gas f o as shown in Figure 2. It is common for reheat funracesto have multiple heating zones or lw banks of burners. Zone fluegas, wt temperaaues ranging from 2150F to 2650"F,i ultimately ih s exhausted through a recuperator to the stack a 700 t 1200F. Even with recaperation o v d t o furnace efficiencies are low (45 to 60%) and stack gas sensible heat losses relatively high. This and the need t transferheat by radiation m the heat mnes sugggt that oxygen enrichment of these o zones would offer s m significant benefit in thermal efficiency and productivity. Three concepts oe shown in Figure 3 are under evaluation: 1) oxygen lancing into fbel rich combustion zones, 2) oxygen enrichment into the Primary burner combustion air, and 3) additiond oxy-fuel boost burners strategdy placed in the heat zones.

The design of an a d v d reheat fumace system is site and equipment specific. In ordet to perfom an evaluation in sufficient detail to support the design and development phases of the project a proforma model furnace w s first developed. This model was identiEd from market a derived data, by matching an actual furnacefor which design and operational data was available to typical furmas, as shown i Table 1. n

Figure 5 also shows a bIock diagram for implementation of the gas reburn process to be implemented in the steel reheat b a c e . The soak (holding) zone would be conventionaIIy opemted as part of the Primary zone, perhaps a slightly l w r excess air, and therefore s W d be t oe neutral with respect t fuei effiuency, scaIe farmation,and NO. Any CO slip from the soak zone o will ultimately be controlled i the GR,Over F r Air (OFA) n ie section of zone 3. The gas rebum (GR)injectom are locatedin the last reheatzone or the preheat Section. The GR injection locafion must be substantially post combustion, near stoichiometric, and a if temperatwe sufficient fot t effective free radicalformation. For a watbcing beam furnace with multiple ceiIing burners gas reburn could conceivably be impIesnentedby gperating the last burner set fuel rich. OFA injecton arelocateddowmtreambasexionco~idemtions ofoptimumNOx~ction bymzurimizing&um zone residence times subject to constramts of complete combustion and furnace efficiency. In * upcoming program tasks,0modelling will be used to locate these positions for both baseline and OEA condhns.

Chemical equilibrium caIculations a adiabatic conditions indicate that the furnace gas t temgerataresm these zones am suff~ciently &wted t produce higher levels of NOx, as shown i o n Figure 4, as welI as to increase!theeXitingfhe gas mpmtwes. In reality, the process i farfrom s adiabatic due to the highly stratified, radiating flames &veloped through burner modifications. These increases will d t i initial conditions that are more favorable for gas reburning, e.g., n greater than 22qo'F and NOx Ievels appmachg 600 ppmv, as shown in the e-td data (Energy and&vhnmental Research Corp. @ER],1996) presented in Figure 5.

Process Analysis
The cunent status of the process d y s i s activity is described below. To date two models basedon the model furnacespecification have been developed and &in&
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a zoned s s e model based on heat transfer and mass balances ytm

a cOmputatiozlStlfluid dynamic model of the entire furnace

These' models have been p.rtially validated a baseline with M a c e design and field t operatingdata Themodelswerethenusedtopredicttwoscenarios: gasreburnwithandwithout OEA -The costs and benefits of appiying the proposed technologies is under evaluation. This preliminary assessment is based on the fouowing approach which serves as a model for the first phase of theproposedwork:
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Furnace Process Modelling .

. The deveIopment of a refknce furnace specification and flow

A parametric study of the effects (heat transfer and t h e d y efficiency improvement and the resulting NOx increase due to high temperature operation) of oxygen enrichment or oxy-ti~el boost b m e r use applied to the heatzones

is typical of mOdern@e

sheet which

The effectiveness of GR as the primary COntroI of NOx and CO.

Reference Furnace

A I15 TPH r e f e m billet furnace has been defined w i h is typical of furnaces found m hc both &-mill and integrated steel. The mode1 furnace is of modern design and high efficiency (about 1.2MMBtu/ton continuous or about 1.5 MMJ3tu/ton average with mill down time of about 25%). The recupratedfurnace preheats combustion air to 1000F and exhausts flue gas at 1600F. Two applications using gas reburning and/or oxygen as shown in Figure 6, have been studid
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A furnace requiring about a 20% increase in billet heating capacity, and a NOx reduction of 30 t 40% relative t the NOx baseline t achieve offset o o o emissions
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A gas fired furnace operating in a nonattainment area for ozone and requiring50% NOx reduction

Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) Model

The CFD modeling i used to establish steel and flue gas temperature pmfdes or key s operating conditions (oxygen enrichment and gas rebm) and to support the location of reburn and overfire air (OFA) hjectors. The furnace is sufficiently wide to be modefed as two dimensional (2D). This implies&at the heat loss f o the side walls can be neglected. This is reasonable since rm losses account for about 4%of the gross fuel energy input, and the side walls are smaU as compaT.ed to the roof and b t o walls. Another implication is the amount of energy distributionby otm radiation as a result of the side walls. Since the refractory wails have very little heat loss, they are close to perfectly reflective walls of the third coordinate direction as assumed in the 2 model. D Therefore, the 2D &t will be representative of the true sitnation except, perhaps, in a small steel volume immediately next to the side walls. The b t o zone is assumed to have no radiative otm communication w t the top heat zone except through the steel, and their flue gas flows are ih assumed not t merge until the flows are vertically dhcted. In reality, the furnace width i n m e s o
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Cm, sohutions are presented for two conditions, beginning with a baseline case representing design operation. Overall, about 55% of the fuel energy (HHV 140 MMBtu/br) is absorbed by the steel t reach an average discharge ternperatwe of 2120 O .Water cooling arnounts o F to 11% loss, and refractory loss is 4%.At an average exhaust temperature of 1725 OF, flue loss amounts to 2 % oftotalinput. The flue tempratwe i in reasonableagreement with the recuperator 7 s design inlet t e x p m t m of 1600 "EThe average gas velocity a the nose is 9.8 WS, the t and average gas tempratme is 2166 O . Axialurnace tempatms at baseline, F i p 7, show upper F zone peak flame and bulk temperatmesa m & 3700 and 3200 OF, repedvely. T m e a u e are t u eprtrs sufficiently high mid way along the top heat zone, about 2800 OF, to inject reburn fuel. The m d l oe also predicts primary combustion to be SubstantiaUy complete at this location, e.g., CoaOO t ppmv. The velocity p r o f b are shown i Figure 8. Note that the veIocity a the point of rebum n s 0 o t &el and OFA injection i approximately 3 Ws. Jet velocities ae selected t penetrate a least 70% though the bulk gas ai these locations.

The governing equations for the conservation of mass, momentum,energy and ChemicaI species are solved with the FLUENT software package (FLUENT User's Guide, 1996). It uses a control vohrme based finite Merence scheme where nonlinear variations a e inc1uW inside each x control volume, sirnilatto the concept o a shape fimction in afinite element scheme. This method f i a Variation of the original approach by Patankar (1980).This formalatonensures the balances of s mass, momentum,energy and species locaily (ihneach confro1 volume) to achieve physically wti realistic results even on coarse grids. A grid of 131 by 112 computational nodes was used. Exploratory calculations showed that the results were independent of further grid refinement. To further assure the accuracy of the solution, a SecOIlcl order discretization scheme (Leonard, 1979) is used. The solution is allowed t iterate until the residuals are reduced by a least 5 orders of o t magnitude. More importantly, fieId variables are moIzitoredto ensure they do not vary wt further ih iterations, and the overall mass, species,and energy balances are satisfied. The overall error in the ae energy bdance is believed to be on the order of 3%of gross firing r t .

Aflame soot model has not been incopmted i t the current m d l n .Soot formaton is no oeig a complex topic and CtMendy only qualitative models are available for prediction. The accuracy of such a predictiondepends critically on the flow and temperatm fields, which in turn are intimate with mixing pattern. Since the 2D model can not predict the 3 mixing pattern in the furnace, D even qnaiitative trends of soot may not be feasible for this geomerrical approximation.

The he1 collsists of 90%.- 5 % (22% and 5%N by volume. The m l c l r weight is 2 oeua 17.3. Its gtrrss heating value (HHV) is 1001 BIZ/&, and reqnireS 15.76 I . of air per lb. o gas. b f Thesefael' -cswere used consbtently in both the CErD modei and the process model.

under the chimney, a feature horn as "ears" in the industry. The ears allow flue gas f o the rm bostomzone @jointhe r s of the the andleave the furnace. Without the flue gas fiom the bottom et zone, the averagevelocity in the tail end of the m d l furnace would be lower, providing m r oe oe residence time fixC0 bumout when operating i the rebum mode. n

through oxygen enrichment. Oxygen enrichment is i p e e t d by premixing it into the air mlmne supply duct for the top zone only. Furthermos, suppose 75% (10.5 MMBtu/hr) of the rebum fuel s energy i recovered inside the furnace. Iterative calculations predict the need for the top zone combustion air to be enriched to 50% oxygen. The CFD model shows &at the average steel discharge temperature is 2159 O , and that the average exhaust flue temperature is 1640 OF, all F within exptatims.

The second case primariy evaluates the impact of increasing furnace production by 20%

pmductimincrease.

At the nose, the average veIOcity i 10 Ws, and the average gas temperature is 2213 O. s F Since the s & zone firing pattern has not changed, the increase in o is solely due t o radiation f o the top zone. The slight velocity increaseis due to the increased temperature,The rm e t distribution is compared to the baseline in Figtue 9. Although the peak flame temperature i consi&r&Iy higher by 460 OF, the peak ceiling rehctory temperature increases s more modestly from 2822 T to 2950 T (128 OF). Examination of the steel tempratme profile i d c t s tha$ the heat transfix ra& in the top zone with oxygen enrichment is higher, since the niae tapemtm curve has a larger sbpe and crosses &at of the baseline case. The veIocity profiles are similar to the base case. Fuel efficiency, a 1.014 MMBtu/ton, has improved inversely to the t

Combustion is a complex phenomenon that presents great challenges for numerical m d l n . Some of the fundamental aspects involved in combustion, such as turbulence, oeig chemistry, radiation and soot are not even well understood today. Therefore the d t s presented are o l appro-, ny consistent with the accufacy o the inputs and that: of the physical m d l . f oes However, experience shows that the fesuIts are helpful in predicting trends and Supporting engineerkg design *isions.
Zoned System Yodel

For the model of Gas Reburning appbed t the top Ha Zone done, the m d l furnace is o et oe divicied into fbur zones: Soak, Bottom,and a subdivision of the top Ha Zones i t an upstream et no and downstreamp a t The two U p r Heat zones are separated by a vertical plane coincident wt pe ih the burner wall of the bottom zone, which is about the location where reburn he1 is t be injected o in the top zone. OFA is also assumed to follow shortly after in the second top Heat Zone, so that the zone may be considered to operate a the bumout stoichiometry. Figure 10 shows a block t diagram of the zones for this furnace andthe interaction between then (However, the upper heat zone and OFA zoneshave been COmbiTted hto one @n o i the current model.) n

This &coupled zone approach allows for quicker evaluationof performance impacts than is possible with a full CFD simulation.Since the impact of Oxygen Enrichment based on CFD has been presented above, only Zone S s e Model predictions of the impacts of G s Rebum by itself ytm a are included here.

"be zoned System Model provides a simple mass and energy balance calculation w i h hc may be used to evaIuate the prima^^ impacts of changes in operating conditions such as variation in gas rebum or oxygen enrichmentparameters. The model divides the furnace inm distincr zones. A s m E i d . e dimensional radiative and coIzveCtive heat transfer m d l is applied t each zone. igfe,zm oe o G s radiative properties ate estimated based on Smith, Shen 82 Friedman (1982), considering the a participation of C02 and H 0 but not soot, consistent with the Fluent m d l There is no direct 2 oe. heat transfer between ulnes except for the carryover of sensible heat as h a c e gases pass f o rm one zone to another, and through interaction with the steel which passes through each zone. Because the steel moves counter to the gas f o direction, the stee1 heat transfer is marched lw backwards &om aknown exit tempe&m to the inlete -t matched by & . e n t of other input parameters (heat transfer constants for the initial Baseline case, and stee1 feed rate for conditions where furnace efficiency varies). The resuits of the detaiIed CFD mode1 are used to refine the m d l oe.

gases f o the top b f entering the recuperator. The ducts leading f o the heat zones to the rm em rm reapemtor are not modeled separately but are implicitly included in the regenerator caicuIation. 8

Gases Erom the b t o zone bypass the upper heat zone entireIy and are mixed with the flue otm

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Recupetator perfonname is inaqomted into the m d l The caicuation is based on the oe. effectiveness method, assuming that the value o NTlT (Numberof Transfer Units), established f initially a baseline conditions, is constant at all other conditions. Ha removal fo the steel skids t et rm (by cooling water flow) is included in the furnace model, and is a s m d to be the same (15 sue MMBTu/hrininallpresenpresentedhere.
Figure 11 shows baseline mass and energy parameters of hterest Fieburning in the tap heat zone is then applied as a perturbation t the baseline model, with a given percentage of the o total fuel heat input diverted f o the first t the second upper heat zone. This effectively moves rm o the heat release inti& zone downstream.

The input assLlILlptiolls were kept consistent with the Fluent modelingapproach as much as practical. The waII area and thermal resistance was updated to incIude side waIIs (not possible in the 2D Fiuent model), but on the other hand did not allow for heat losses u n d e r n d the steel i the n region without a bottom heat zone. To match steel energy absorption in the baseline case, wall thermalresistances and steel emissivity were modified f o the Fluent m d l parameters, but to rm oe vaiues reflective of available information and experience.

Heat losses in these ducts and the recuperator are neglectedbut a e expected to be minor. r
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Some of the heat recovery is d r c heat transfer to the steel wti the heat zone. Some of iet ihn theheat initially escapes the furnace i the fonn o ahigher furnaceexit-t n f ,e but is partially reqtundin the recuperator i the form of higherpreheattempatmes. This temperaxure impact is n shown as a function of the amount of rebum fuei m Figure 13. At 15% reburning, the additiod a rpreheat energy accouflts for about 1.2%of the 1-40NMBTU/hr fuel heat input. This implies i that m s of the rebum fuel heat input is recovered directy in the furnace,and is supplemented by ot air preheat recovery. Indirect heat recovery in the recuprator is less efficient and thus less desirable than direct heat transfer t steel, but dues represent an additionalmitigation of the heat o loss due to delayed combustion of rebum fael.
Ftow Sheet Performance

reburn fuel.

Figure 12 shows the impacto a Variation of 0 t 15% total fuel in the rebum zone on the f o energy demand, measuredinMMBTUperton of steel produced Theimpact of 15%reburning is a reduction m overall furnaceefficiency of about 2 3 . One w y of viewing this is that only aborrt .% a (2.3115) or.about 16% of the reburn fuel heat input is lost, implying 84% heat recovery of the

The mass balance for Case 2 with gas reburn only, differs only slightly from n o d operation. Since the gas reburn inmqmatm afinal af&erk&gzone with the injection of OFA, all high ternheating zones will be operated dose to stoichiometric subject to cuxrent practice i Scale control e.g., any low levels of CO will be burned out in the last stage of the n
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The above modem results have been used to develop flow sheets with which to establish performance and economics. The previously discussed CFD results were used to locate furnace cross sections for agent injectian (reburn fuel and overfire air). The temperatureand CO PrOfiIes estabbh the fuel injection Iocation, e.g., just downstreamof the CoaoO ppmv contour (coq1ete combustion) and a the highest bulk furnace temperatwe, 'IS2400O . The zoned s s e model t F ytm w s then used to determine the impact of these Iocations on the amount of the rebum fuel heat that a is usefully recovered, i.e., in the steel and recuperator. For purposes of the proformaeconomic analysis the furnace baseline NOx emission is assumedto be 0.3 lb/MMBtu.

Case 3 incorporates the combined GWOEA technologies to obtain high radiant heat in the top heat zone using about 4.2 TPH of oxygen enrichment (50% 0 ) This amount was pviously 2. shown t achieve about a 20% efficiency improvement without signZcantly impactingfurnace o refractory and does not tesnlt in local steel surface melting. The process conditions have now moved t a mom favorable condition, high NOx (about 0.51 lb/MMBtu), but injection o t e m p & m ssimilar to the baseline rebum case (2600"F),improving the gas reburn performance. NOx reductions of about 6 9 ,as shown in Figure 5, resuit in a NOx emission of about 0.18 06 IbMMBtu, or4096 less than baseke.
In reality, actuaI furnace design, site and regional requirements will dictate the level of enrichment only sufficient 02 wiil be introduced to meet the new production requirements and only enough gas r e b m to meet the reguhmy requirements. The potential effects OR furnace

process. tower excess air should result in a 10 t 20 % NOx reduction and some fuel efficiency o s improvement Gas rebum fuel i then added throughjets m the furnace ceiling, bottom and wails a a l d o n about midway dong the heating zones w e e bulk t hr are about 2600 O. F This &odd resuit in an additional 50 to 55% NOx contmi. N t that the aeaimmedmeIydjacent oe to the steel can be kept relatively oxidizing downstream of the fuel injection point to avoid carburizing if required by controlkg the penetration distance o the reburn fuel jet. OFA is f introduced i the top and bottom zones about 0.4 seconds (about 8 ft downstream) a a point where n t the process gas tempratwe is stiU >>1600F to complete combustion. Thus, only a very smaU steel h a r a i n the treatedzones is exposed to therebumreducingenvironment. The released heat is substantially recovered (70 to 85%) in the preheat zone and the recqerator. overall,the gas reburn process i expected to be nearly fuel efficiency neutral. G s rebm NO control s a effectiveness is estimated from Figure 5 at 50 % or 0.15 fb/MMBtu. If less NOx controi is required,only the tap mne would be treat&.

Thus, the approach i seen as a taiforabetechnology for an evolving and changing set of s performance requirements. For example, during periods of extended production delays due t mill o problems 0 2 enrichment would not be necessary or cost effective, and could result in unwanted steel oxidation. Long mill delays increasethe poteIltid for steel carburization in the rebm zone w e e the furnace e n v i r o m t is more reducing due t the injection ofthe rebum fUe1. Under full hr o rebum conditions a a stoichiometricratio of aboa 0.93, the process gas between the GR and OFA t injectionpoints will typically be composed o about 0.025 and 0.08 mole percents of CO and C@, f respectively. The carbon potentbl for this mixture has been estimatedand indicates t a even at ht low stoichiometries the potential is several orders of magnitude lower than that used for heat treating. On exbmely long delays the GR system can aiways be adjusted to a less severe CO level or shut down to control carbon potentid.
Proforma Economics and Market Potential
A profonnacost-effedveness evaluation has been performed for the two cases and compared to the baseline f u m e pedomauce. The figure of merit for the comparisons is as
0

efficiency due t gas rebuxn heat input to the top heat zone is shown in Figure 12. o

follows:

Gas rebunr or& the a m u W cost per ton of NO2 reduced, absolute and as compared to other technologies
Gas reburn with UE4: the net annualized value of incremental steel 10

3?rod-a

produced Iess O&M costs for GR and oxygen (cost per ton of steel

The economicsae based on the following assmptions:

a

e
e
a
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COS O f O X y p Of $3o/ton

Capital costs of $34O,OOO and $25O,OOO for GR and OEA respectiveIy

The material and heat balances previously discussed

fiei cost of $uMMbtu

Opemtinghours of -, 8

Capital recowry factor identical to the EPA ACT (1994) document, 7% interestand15yrlife

e
e

The economics of the three coElcepts reIative ' base hee p to f r are detaiIed i Tabk n 2. GR @tal costs have been annualized,37,330Wyr, with a Capitai recovery factor based on the EPA ACT (1994) assumptions. Fuel efficiency impacts could vary between 0 and $73,60O/yr, depending on GR heat reld-on. The cost-effectiveness of GR is dcuI&d on the basis o aMualized cost/ton NOx removed, and evaluated p m e t r i d y as a function of its impact on f furnace efficiency shown i F g r 14. The modelling d t s currently suggest slight to some n iue decrease in furnace efficiencies (between 1.22 to 1.25 BWton), tesdting in 1100 to 1900 $/ton N reduced, respectively. GR and LNB's could be used in combinatioIl to achieve contr01 levels @ approaching 75% redudion, similart selectivecatalytic reduction. The importanceof recoverEpg o the reburn fuel heating value suggests that this should be one of the focuses of the development plan, Specifically, the rebum fueljets need to be pIaced well upstream of the exit to the last heating zone and the WAjets should be close coupled, e.g., providing about400 ms of mixinglreactian time. For the base case 90% of the flue gas flow is at a velocity of about 20 fps a the injection t point, indicatingthat the injectors should be spaced 8 f apart. Because of the mbstantiaUy lower t r flows when oxygen enrichment is used, the distance could be reduced about 30% o to about 5 ft. Thus there is sufficient time/temgeraturet m v e r a signrficant amout of the reburn he1 as useful o steei heating.

Finished steel a $O.ZZ/lb, and a 1 2 2 5 and 5 9% revenue enbancement from t ., . production increase

A twenq percent increasei farnaceproductivity n

O M without and with reburn is directed at &bottlenecking a production line and are of primary interest in increasing revenuesdue to production increases. The annualized cost per ton of steel increases becauseof the cost of 02 (about 0 4 $/ton) and capital, even though there i an off .8 s setting fuel savings of about 0.3 $/ton. The potential value (2.5 t 5 9 incremental value) of a o 6 20% production increase (23 TPH) is about $10 to 2Olton for finished steeI priced a When. t Thus, there is some COIlsiderabe advantage t &bottlenecking wt net savings of over $600,000 o ih on $ 590,000 of capital, an excellent return of the investment. Figure 15 shows the cost of implementing oxygen enrichment with and without reburning for different levels of revenue increase. The importance of m x m z n the flame radiation to minimize 0 2 consumption is aiiig suggestedand is the other major focus of the development plan.
11

References

Initiatresults frornithe Phase I workhave been reportd as work i progress. The utility of n developing several interrelated m d l t assess the impacts of combined oxygen enrichment and oes o gas reburn on steel furnace NO emissions, thermal and production efficiencies has been . . the temperatare and velocity profiles. This demcmstm&&CFDmode~isusefuIin datacan thenbe used to determine h n p a c t s ~ eand steel surface, and in placing the gas s rebnrn fuel and OFA injectors. The CFD model also provides boundary conditions for other predictive models. The tunedzonedsystemmodel has u w i n its ability t o ~ c k l y ~ c a i I y investigatedesign a d operathg variationsh m the CFD m d l results with simple input changes. n oe For the stand done gas reburn s s e the importance of opthizing the recovery of heat reieased ytm late in the heating zone was demonstrated. The significant economic benefit of increased pr0Ch;rction was demonmated along with the relatively minor impact of adding gas reburn t o achieve off-set NO control.

Leonard, B.P. (1979) "Astable and accurate convective modeling procedure based on quadratic upstream interpolation," Cornput Methods AppZ. Mech Eng., Volume 19, pp. 59-98. Patadcar, S V (1980) N . d E Heat Trmzsfeer and R i Flow,Hemisphere Publication Corp., .. ud washingtorlDc.
1994.

FLUENT Guide, (1996) Volume 2, Release 4.4, Fluent Inc., Lebauon, NH. User's

Energy and Environmental Research Corporation, Topical Repfl: G h s Tank NO, Emission Conxrol Wit;irGas R e b m Phae h? C M E p e h e n B , GRI-96/0139, Research Institute, Gas Chicago, Illinois, September 1996.

Pearson, S. J., Moyeda, D I ,and Koppang, R.R, Industrial Application of Gizs R e b e g : .C . Topical Report, Contract Number 5091-236-2286, Gas R s a c Institute, Chicago, Illinois, April eerh

U. S EPA, A&em&ve ControE Techniques DocMKnt - NO, Emissions From Iron und Steel . Mills, EPA-453/R-94-065, Emissions Standards Division, office of Air Quality PIanning and Standards, Office of Air and Radiation, U S. Environmental Protection Agency, Research . Triangle Park,N r h Carolina, September 1994. ot

Smith, T F , Shen, 2 F , and Friedman, J. N., %valuation of Coefficients for the W i h e .. . . egtd Sum of Gray Gases Model," Trans&m o the ASME, VoI. 104, pp. 602-608, American f Society of Mechanical Engineers,November 1982.

12

-T

7-

0
CD 0
4J

ccr

-5

0 2 Lancqs ( r undershot enrichment) o

AIR

OXYGEN INJECTION LANCE

EZ-Firem Burner Retrofit

OXYGEN

OxyFuel

OXYGEN

Figure 3. Oxygen enrichmentconcepts.

zoo00
18000

5000

16OOO
14O00

4800
4600

3.

8000
4000

3800
3600
0

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

0 2 in Oxidizer ( 6 9)

Figure 4. Oxygen enriched theoretical flame temperatures and NO emissions.

Process Implemnmion

loo

t m-r Quench
+
65%
1,920"F 2,130"F 2,eoOF

Rebum 09 .3 Find 1.24 Reburn Temperafftre:

~100,- Btrrhr) Rate c 1,OOOeF/sec Stoichiometric Ratios: Primary 1.14

20

f I

POFNGR

Fim,o;ure 5.

Gas reburn process conditions and pilot scale NOx perfonmince.

P
CombustionAir

Recuperator

'I

1000 - 1090 P
Natural Gas

Heating Zones

air @ 4000 - 1090 F

Charge
CI))

Figure 6. Typical reheat furnace modified for heat zone oxygen enrichment and gas reburn.

..-

4,000

1,000

10

20

Axial Distance, ft

30

Rebu n Fuel

Figure 9. Axial flue gas and steel temperatures at baseline and oxygen enriched conditions.

50

60

A \

Ambient
Air

.Preheated .. Air
Wiue Gas

Flue
Gas

Recuperator Kecuperator
~

OFA 4 (Burnout) Zone <

(OFA)

1 -

Figure 10. Schematic of mass and heat balance in steel reheat furnace.

1 1 1,300 Ibhr preheated air

(Sensible Heat 25.9 MMBtu/hr) Air In 70F FG Out
I

All Zones Fired at a Stoichiometric Ratio of 1. I

Recuperator

Air Out 1000F FG In

117,800 lbhr Flue Gas

(Sensible Inlet 68.9 MMBtuhr)

1O O 7OP

942OF 43.0 MMBtulhr To Stack

1.0MMBtu/hr Lost

1 .O MMBtuihr Lost

0.6 MMBtuhr Lost

!5 MMBtu/hr Fuel-+
<

Soak

2152F
70 MMBtui h r s
I

Heat

2382F

Heat

2150F
I

1805OF 962F I Steel (Net Absorption 79.1 MMBtu/hrJ

I

70F
I

15 MMBtu/hr to Skid

45 MMBtu/hr Fuel

Bottom Heat

1843F

0.4 MMBtu/hr Lost

Figure 11. Heat and mass balance for baseline conditions.

1.220 1.215

4 6 8 10 12 Rebum Fuel in Top Heat Zone, % of Total

14

16

Figure 12. Impact of gas reburn on fuel requirements.

1,000

Rebum Fuel in Top Heat Zone,% o TOW f

10

12

14

16

Figure 13. Impact of gas reburn on air preheat tenprature.

-4,000

cy

3,000

e ,

0"

1,Ooo

0 1.18

1.20

1.22

Fuel Efficiency, MMlBNton

124

1.26

1.28

1.30

1.32

Figure 14. Cost effectiveness parameter sensitivity to gas rebum fuel efficiency impact

0.7

138 todhr, Revenie: $5/0n

I I I I I I I I i i i i

1.4

3 0.3

Oxygen: $30/tW?,Fuel $2/MMBtu Revenue $@on Steel Oa5 --Net Revenue at Baseline -$173,300

- f38 tor&,
1 1 1 1

1.2 -Net Revenue at Baseline $746,700 -

- Omen: $30/lon, Fugl $.VMM6tu - Revenue $loRon Steel

Revenhe: $5/on'

Oxygen: $3O/tOn, Fuel $2/MMBtu Revenue $20/ton Steel

Q ar
3

1.o

2.6

8 -0.1
2

0.1

0.8

OEA w/o RB

2.4

% i
-0.3
-0.5

4.0 5.0 6.0 Oxygen Consumption, tonlhr

3.0

06 .

---_ I -

0.4 -

2.0

0.2

2.0

1 u
-

2.2
2.0

I I

4.0 5.0 6.0 Oxygen Consumption, tonkr

3.0

1.8 2.0 3.0 4.0 5.0 6.0 Oxygen Consumption, tonlhr

Figure 15. Economic sensitivity of amount of oxygen enrichment required for 20%production increase.