Ladle Furnace Energy Consumption

1. LF Ladle Refining Furnace Technology

LF (ladle furnace) is refining equipment developed in Japan in the early 1970s. In recent years, how to reduce ladle furnace energy consumption is an important problem. LF refining mainly relies on the white slag in the ladle. In a low oxygen atmosphere (oxygen content is about 5%), argon is blown into the ladle for stirring and the molten steel passing through the primary smelting furnace is heated by a graphite electrode for refining.

LF is heated by three-phase electrodes. When heating, the electrode is inserted into the slag layer and the submerged arc heating method is adopted. This method has small radiation and has a protective effect on the furnace lining (this characteristic is particularly important for LF furnaces). At the same time, the heating efficiency is relatively high and the thermal efficiency is good.

LF can replace the primary smelting furnace for reduction period operation, and conduct temperature rise, deoxidation, desulfurization, degassing, alloying, argon blowing and stirring for molten steel to make the composition and temperature of molten steel uniform and improve the quality of molten steel.

LF structure is divided into three-phase single-arm electrode lifting adjustment and three-phase three-arm type three-phase electrode adjustment according to electrode adjustment form; According to the structural form, it is divided into the heating base frame and heating bridge; According to the process layout, it is divided into ladle car (single car double station, double car three station and electrode rotation double station) and ladle turntable.

2. Ladle Furnace Energy Consumption and Emission Reduction Technology

(1) Adopt Optimized Process Layout

In short-process steelmaking, the process layout in the form of electrode cross arm rotary or ladle rotary table with higher efficiency and lower resource allocation is preferred to improve the utilization rate of energy medium and equipment production and smelting efficiency;

(2) Adopt Reasonable Main Circuit Electrical Parameters

① Reasonable Selection of Transformer Primary Voltage and Transformer Capacity

For transformers of 8000 kVA and above, the primary voltage of 35 kV is preferred to reduce the primary line loss. Select the rated capacity of the transformer reasonably to avoid investment waste and reactive power and short-circuit losses caused by blind expansion.

② The copper-steel composite new type of conductive arm material is preferred to replace the copper tube to conduct electricity, reduce the impedance value of the system, and reduce ladle furnace energy consumption.

③ Optimal Design of Short Network System

The short net is arranged in a space triangle. Using computer-aided technologies such as programming and related electromagnetic analysis software to establish a three-phase power supply model, accurately calculate the short-circuit impedance and three-phase unbalance, improve power input and reduce power loss.

(3) Adopt Automatic Argon Blowing Device

The automatic ladle bottom argon blowing device is used to blow argon in the whole process according to the set argon blowing process curve according to the needs of the smelting process, so as to realize the stable and safe output of soft blowing, stirring and heat preservation, feeding and strong blowing smelting, heating and normal argon blowing, etc., and reduce ladle furnace energy consumption.

(4) Adopt Intelligent Electrode Adjustment Technology

The electrode regulator system is designed according to to single-phase and three-phase correlation. Although the previous experience has proved that it is feasible, the current ladle furnace process has been blowing argon during the smelting time, and the surface boiling of molten steel changes greatly. (actual experience shows that the arc flow of the electrode at the side of the argon blowing port in the bias direction changes sharply.) The regulator system usually works in an unbalanced or sub-balanced state, and the pure PI regulator is slow to reflect and has a long adjustment time, This disadvantage can be overcome by adopting intelligent electrode adjustment technology.

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