1

UNIVERSITY OF GUYANA

NAME OF STUDENT: Pcg

COURSE: CIV 1201
Date of submission: 2014/03/02
2

Contents
Introduction:.................................................................................................................................................. 1
The basic oxygen process for steel production ............................................................................................. 2
Electric arc method ....................................................................................................................................... 3
Furnace Charging ...................................................................................................................................... 3
Melting ...................................................................................................................................................... 3
Refining ..................................................................................................................................................... 3
DE-slagging ................................................................................................................................................ 3
Tapping...................................................................................................................................................... 4
Furnace turn around ................................................................................................................................. 4
Open hearth process..................................................................................................................................... 4
Comparison between BOF, EAF and open hearth method........................................................................... 5
APPENDIX ...................................................................................................................................................... 6
Bibliography .................................................................................................................................................. 7
1

Introduction:
Throughout history of mankind has utilized metals as a means of building various structures and tools to
his advantage. Steel is a mixture of various metals to provide the metallic properties required for a wide
range projects. Various methods have been developed for the crafting and formation of steel and its
uses. The processing of steel has changed as technology has advanced, moving from old methods such
as open hearth to newer methods such as the Basic Oxygen process and Electric Arc process.
2

The basic oxygen process for steel production

Mining of the raw material is done by blasting large areas that contain tagenite rocks. These rocks are then
transported to grinding site and ground to a powder by a grinder whereby crude iron is extracted by powerful
magnets and stored according to origin. Coal is converted to coke to fuel iron making furnaces by crushing
large quantities of it and baking it in air tight ovens for 12-18 hours then removing it from the oven as solid
carbon fuel which is separated into small coke and large coke. The large coke is used for blast furnace while
small coke is used for sintering process. Iron ore (FE2O3), coal (C) and limestone are now dispensed
carefully and spread under a strand moving under a combustion hood to form a material called sinter or
pellets.

Limestone which is used to remove impurities is added with Fuel and sinter to the blast furnace. The
superheated air is used to combust the coke which intensifies the heat to about 2700 thus changing the
raw materials into molten iron and slag which is then removed. the limestone acts as an absorbent for all
the unwanted impurities within the blast furnace , forming the slag .the molten iron called pig iron is then
tapped and desulphurized by injecting lime powder and then transferred into giant ladles and transported
to the steel plant containing the basic oxygen furnace where steel making actually starts. Steel scrap as
well as the pig iron is placed into the basic oxygen furnace and highly pure oxygen at 1500 is blown
into the mix at supersonic speeds forming molten called the bath which is then analysed to determine the
alloying elements and reagents necessary for deoxidation and desulphurization the iron ore. Aluminum is
added to the bath and used to deoxidise the bath and to add ductility, then the molten steel and slag are
poured out of the converter into a ladle separately, tapping the steel first. Within the basic oxygen furnace
the materials become molten steel.

The liquid steel is then taped into ladles and placed into a vacuum degasser which stirs the steel using an
inert gas ensuring the distribution of temperature as well as removing impurities that are channelled to the
slag . The molten liquid at 3000 is then placed over a funnels and poured into a caster containing
moulds which they will be cooled and shaped. The shape of the moulds determines the shape of the semi-
finished materials. Once the steel exists the moulds as slabs it can be cut into sections and either delivered
to a customer as is or stacked away for further processing.
3

Electric arc method

Furnace Charging
Charging refers to scrap steel selection and the process occurs in batches. In order to determine heat
necessary the grade of steal to be made is selected, and by notifying a scrap yard operator, he/she will
then prepare the buckets of scrap needed. The buckets must be layered according to size and density to
ensure proper melt- in chemistry and good melting conditions so as to promote rapid formation of a
liquid steel pool while providing protection for the machinery from electric arc radiation.

Scrap caving in should be minimized and removing scrap from being directly in front of burner ports to
prevent damage to machinery. Lime and carbon can be injected during the heat.

In this tap by tap cycle the roof and electrodes are raised and swung to side of the furnace, and the
scrap charging crane moves a full bucket of scrap over the furnace. The buckets usually open through
the base, allowing the scrap to fall into the furnace, then close at base and are removed. The roof and
electrodes are then swung over the furnace and electrodes then lowered to strike an arc on the scrap,
which commences the melting process, and heat needed depends on the volume of furnace and scrap
density. Charging is considered dead time and energy is lost every time the roof is opened, so to reduce
costs many furnaces are designed to work with a minimum of back charges, most aim for 2 to 3 buckets
per heat and continuously charge.

Melting
Electrical energy is supplied via graphite electrodes that account for 15% of scrap melting, and when the
electrodes penetrate the scrap sufficiently, the long arc transfers power to the scrap.

Chemical energy is supplied through fuel burners and oxygen lances that head the metals through
conduction, convection and radiation. A combination of both energy sources leads to the formation of a
liquid metal pool/ bath. Oxygen is now lanced directly into the bath, reacting with different compounds
within it. The charging process is repeated until all the scrap charges (the metal) is melted. After this an
analysis is taken of the bath chemistry, allowing the melter to determine the amount of oxygen needed
to be blown during the refining.

Refining
This process involves the removal of unwanted impurities. Oxygen is lanced into the bath during
meltdown, causing unwanted materials to react with impurities to form oxides, which float as slag.

Phosphorus and sulphur have opposite favourable conditions. Consequently phosphorus is carefully
removed as early as possible, as it tends to change revert from slag to mixing with steel as oxygen levels
decrease, which occurs later in the process. Sulphur turns to slag mainly when oxidation levels are low
and is preferred to be moved during the initial steel making.

DE-slagging
De-slagging is carried out to remove impurities from the furnace. During the melting and refining some
of the materials in the bath are oxidised and enter the slag phase. The phosphorus is removed as early
as possible. The furnace is tilted backwards and slag is poured out through the slag door.
4

Tapping
When the desired composition and temperature is reached, the tap hole is opened, the furnace is tilted
and the steel pours out into a ladle for transfer to a next batch operation.

During this process, bulk alloy additives are made based on the batch analysis, with deoxidisers being
added to lower the oxygen content before further processing. This is commonly known as killing the
steel or blocking the heat.

Furnace turn around

This is the period following the completion of tapping until the furnace is recharged. Analysis of the
machinery is done to check for any radiation damage or other problems, and any repairs are made using
gunned refractories. This is the longest period where no production is done, but has been reduced from
20 minutes to 5 minutes as newer technologies and methods have been introduced.

Open hearth process

Extraction of the raw materials is done similarly as in the basic oxygen process. The open hearth process
is step by step process creating batches which are called heats utilizing pig iron. The furnace is first
inspected for possible damage, then is charged with light scrap, such as sheet metal, shredded vehicles or
waste metal which is melted and subsequently heavy scrap, such as building, construction or steel milling
scrap is added, together with pig iron from blast furnaces after which limestone is added as the slag
forming agent as temperatures are heated approximately to 871. The waste gas passed into chambers
above the two fires, trapping heat in and consequently increasing the flow of temperature. The limestone
and ore form a slag and the raw steel is tapped when the desired carbon content is reached and extraction
is done by drilling a on the side of the hearth and letting it flow out thereafter the slag is skimmed away.
5

Comparison between BOF, EAF and open hearth method

Modern companies utilize the basic oxygen furnace (BOF) or the electric arc furnace (EAF). The BOF
process uses 25-35 percent old steel (scrap) and rest are raw materials. The EAF process uses virtually
100 percent old steel to make new steel. EAFs make up about 60 percent of todays steelmaking in the
U.S. so it is very useful and indispensible method currently.

These two modern methods have replaced the use of the open hearth method as this method takes far
longer. The hearth method involves heating the materials until the carbon is burned out and slag is
formed. This process proves to be far slower than the mainly used BOF method. The BOF method
surpasses the open hearth because the molten iron from the blast furnace and other raw materials are
blown with highly pure oxygen , inducing a faster reaction between the carbon and oxidising unwanted
materials much faster , allowing the removal of slag far earlier and thus the production of steel at a faster
rate. Also the batch by batch method that the open hearth method uses is not incorporated in the BOF
allowing faster production of steel and generally only two BOFs were required to replace the amount of
work a dozen open hearth furnaces do.
6

APPENDIX

Figure 4: showing the parts of a basic oxygen furnace.

Website : http://www.chemguide.co.uk/inorganic/extraction/iron.html date retrieved : 2014: 03 :02

Figure : showing the basic components for an Electric Arc furnace

Website : http://www.substech.com/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=electric_arc_furnace_eaf
date retrieved : 2014/03/02
7

Bibliography
Jones, eremy A. T. steel works American institute of steel . 2013.
http://www.steel.org/Making%20Steel/How%20Its%20Made/Processes/Processes%20Info/Elec
tric%20Arc%20Furnace%20Steelmaking.aspx (accessed march 02, 2014).

PG steel company . July 16, 2013. https://sites.google.com/site/pgsteelcompany/open-hearthfurnace

(accessed 03 02, 2014).

steel making _ process. 2010. http://www.keytometals.com/Articles/Art2.htm (accessed 03 02, 2014).

Stubbles, John. Steel works American instituteof steel . 2014.

http://www.steel.org/Making%20Steel/How%20Its%20Made/Processes/Processes%20Info/The
%20Basic%20Oxygen%20Steelmaking%20Process.aspx (accessed March 02, 2014).