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February 2007
Vol. 4, No. 2
Electric Steelmaking Technologies

About the Cover

Energy Savings at V&M Star With Microporous Insulation
Shawn R. Elliott, meltshop project/maintenance engineer, Mike Blaner, casting/refractory general supervisor, and William Kepko, casting team leader, V & M Star of Vallourec & Mannesmann Tubes, Youngstown, Ohio (selliott@vmstar.com, mblaner@vmstar.com, bkepko@vmstar.com); and J. Robert Doty (pictured), IMACRO Inc., Northfield Center, Ohio (rdotyimacro@cs.com)

V & M Star realized meltshop energy savings via microporous insulation in its EAF, ladles and tundishes. Power consumption was less as molten steel heat loss was reduced. Microporous insulation also reduced EAF, ladle and tundish shell temperatures.

Operating and Environmental Benefits From the Production and Use of Hot Briquetted Iron
John Stubbles, steel industry consultant, Mason, Ohio (john_stubbles@msn.com)

HBI is one of several alternative iron sources used to supplement recycled scrap in EAF charges. The environmental and operating benefits associated with its production and use are presented.

The Use of Hot Metal in the Consteel® EAF at Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel
Clay Gross, production superintendent, Macsteel, Fort Smith, Ark. (cgross@ macsteel.com); Ted Brown, manager — steelmaking technology, and Albert Zalner, senior process engineer, Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel Corp., Mingo Junction, Ohio (browntw@wpsc.com, zalneraj@wpsc.com)

During commissioning of the Consteel® EAF at Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel Mingo Junction Works, hot metal was used as a charge material on a trial basis. The results of those trials are discussed, as well as the strategies used to determine optimal use of hot metal.

Recent Arc Furnace Revamps for Improved Performance
J. Kevin Cotchen (pictured), senior process engineer — steelmaking, and Ernest Mueller, SMS Demag Inc., Pittsburgh, Pa. (kevin.cotchen@sms-demag.us, ernest.mueller@sms-demag.us)

Furnace modifications at various steel plants, whether complete or still in the planning and design stages, are discussed. Reasoning behind the modifications and the benefits obtained are also presented.

Semi-metal Production in an EAF to Supplement Hot Metal Supply to the BOF
Nagoor (Nick) P. Prabhu, manager of steelmaking materials, and Milan Alavanja, division manager — No. 1 SP EFBC, Arcelor Mittal Steel – Indiana Harbor, East Chicago, Ind. (nick.prabhu@mittalsteel.com, milan.alavanja@mittalsteel.com)

During the reline of one blast furnace at Mittal Steel  – Indiana Harbor, a process of producing hot metal from the EAF to supplement hot metal from other blast furnaces was developed. This paper outlines the methodology, practices and results.

Recycling of Ladle Slag in the EAF: A Way to Improve Environmental Conditions and Reduce Variable Costs in Steel Plants
Francesco Memoli (left), Techint Compagnia Tecnica Internazionale, Milano, Italy (francesco.memoli@techint.it); Carlo Mapelli, professor, and Marta Guzzon (right), Politecnico di Milano, Milano, Italy (carlo.mapelli@polimi.it)

Ladle furnace slag and spent refractory can be recycled into a final powder product that is injected into the EAF. A detailed metallurgical study of slag and its interaction with the powder is discussed, along with the cost-saving benefits of this recycling process.

Recent Activities in Electromagnetic Processing of Materials Relating to Steelmaking
Shigeo Asai, Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Nagoya University, Nagoya, Japan (asai@numse.nagoya-u.ac.jp)

In the metals industries, electric energy has been used as heat energy for an extended period of time for reasons of cleanliness, high controllability and high energy density. Technologies using electric energy were developed in a rather early era and went forward without much scientific understanding behind them. Good examples are electromagnetic levitation and electromagnetic stirring, which were invented in 1923 and 1932, respectively. To bridge the gap between the technologies and the scientific understanding, magnetohydrodynamics — established by Alfven in 1942 — was first introduced at the 1982 IUTAM Conference, held in Cambridge, England, in a paper entitled, “The Application of Magnetohydrodynamics to Metallurgy.”1 The conference introduced many people to the field of electromagnetic processing of materials (EPM), though the term EPM was initially used at the first Symposium of EPM held in Nagoya, Japan, in 1994.2 Until now, EPM activities have focused mainly on the economic aspects relating to mass production and the nanotechnology relating to high-quality materials. Now EPM involves not only the Lorentz force, but also the magnetization force related to a high magnetic field.
In this paper, continuous casting without mold oscillation is introduced as a recent topic in the steelmaking field. In addition, the application of a high magnetic field in EPM is classified, and three topics are discussed in detail: (1) magnetic valve of a molten metal flow, (2) quantitative evaluation of phase transformation and (3) crystal orientation in metal solidification.