Decarburizationcontrolduringstainlesssteelmakinginan.PDFVIP

EAF process models Session 15 1 Decarburization control during stainless steel making in an EAF 1 1,3 2 2 2 1 Thomas Echterhof , Victor Yuardi Risonarta , Christof Beiler , Stefan Lenz , Hans Peter Jung , Herbert Pfeifer 1RWTH Aachen University, Department of Industrial Furnaces and Heat Engineering, 52056 Aachen, Germany 2 Deutsche Edelstahlwerke GmbH, Obere Kaiserstrasse, 57078 Siegen, Germany 3now at Siemens VAI Metals Technologies GmbH, Reithallenstr. 1, 77731 Willstaett, Germany Contact Data Thomas Echterhof RWTH Aachen University, Department of Industrial Furnaces and Heat Engineering, 52056 Aachen, Germany Phone: +49 241 80 25958 Fax: +49 241 80 22289 Email: echterhof@iob.rwth-aachen.de Abstract During the production of stainless steel in the electric arc furnace (EAF) there is a phase when oxygen is injected to oxidize unwanted elements, mainly carbon and silicon. Within this decarburization phase unfortunately also elements valuable to the process like iron and chromium get oxidized. This causes an economical loss and a bad environmental impact. Since it is not possible to continuously measure the carbon content of the melt during decarburization, an alternative indirect control strategy has been developed. This control strategy is based on thermochemical calculations, a model describing the elements oxidation during oxygen injection and the measurement of carbon emissions from the EAF. To monitor the carbon emissions (CO2 , CO) of the process during decarburization, an off- gas analysis system has been installed at an industrial EAF. This new control strategy was tested in a number of exemplary heats and showed good results throughout. The control of the decarburizat