Ladle Refining Furnace Power Consumption

Ladle refining furnace refers to the equipment that also has the function of heating and refining steelmaking furnace. Therefore, the ladle refining furnace power consumption is also a concern of major users.

To understand its power consumption, we need to understand its specific characteristics.

Features

Ladle refining furnace is an important metallurgical equipment used to refine the molten steel melted in the primary furnace (electric arc furnace, open hearth furnace, converter), and can adjust the temperature of molten steel, process buffer, and meet the needs of continuous casting and rolling. The ladle furnace is one of the main equipment for refining outside the furnace.

Main functions of ladle refining furnace:

1. It has the function of heating up molten steel and keeping it warm. 

The molten steel is heated by an arc to obtain new heat energy, which not only enables the addition of alloys and adjustment of components during ladle refining, but also the addition of slag, which facilitates deep desulfurization and deoxidation of molten steel. 

Moreover, the starting temperature of the molten steel required for continuous casting is guaranteed, which is beneficial to the improvement of the quality of the dry casting slab.

2. Argon stirring function. 

The argon gas is blown into the molten steel through the breathable brick installed at the bottom of the ladle, and the molten steel obtains a certain stirring function.

3. Vacuum degassing function. 

After the ladle is hoisted into the vacuum tank, a steam jet pump is used for vacuum degassing, and at the same time, argon gas is blown into the molten steel through the bottom of the ladle to stir the molten steel, which can remove the hydrogen and nitrogen content in the molten steel, and further reduce the oxygen and sulfur content. Finally, the liquid steel with higher purity and the material with superior performance are obtained.

The ladle refining furnace power consumption depends on the smelting material, power, conditions, etc. Different furnaces have different power consumption. 

Let us first take the energy consumption indicators of the main production processes of the steel industry in 2021 as an example:

Benchmark value of electric furnace steelmaking process

Energy consumption of electric furnace process: 44.5 kgce/t molten steel (all scrap steel/30% molten iron)

Electricity consumption per ton of steel (water): 242 kWh/t

New water consumption per ton of steel (water) (t/t): 0.3

Oxygen consumption per ton of steel (water): 33 Nm3/t

Fuel consumption per ton of steel (water): 0.04 GJ/t

Waste heat recovery capacity per ton of steel (water): 14 kgce/t

From the previous on-site production and statistical analysis of production data, factors such as refining time, waiting time, entering temperature of molten steel, operating level and ladle insulation performance should be considered to reduce the  ladle refining furnace power consumption.

Mainly by controlling the tapping temperature, refining, production operation and other links to reduce the refining furnace power consumption.

Reduce the ladle refining furnace power consumption

The main processes adopted are as follows:

(1) Appropriately increase and stabilize the tapping temperature of the electric furnace. While strengthening management, the average superheat of each steel grade decreases by about 2°C over the same period;

(2) Do a good job of ladle insulation materials to enhance the insulation effect;

(3) Improve the operation level of workers, formulate a rigorous process system, strengthen the tracking management of technical personnel, and improve the assessment system. After taking the above measures, the power consumption of the final refining furnace will be reduced by 30k W·h/t.

The application of the ladle refining furnace can at least increase the following benefits for the entire enterprise:

Accelerate the pace of production and improve the efficiency of the entire metallurgical production.

Ladle refining furnaces are widely used in industry, iron and steel, metallurgy and other industries.

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