Metal 2001

May 15. - 17. 2001

Ostrava, Czech Republic

CONARC - Innovative Steelmaking by SMS Demag

By: K. Schmale; K.-H. Deppner; Dr. P. Meierling
SMS Demag AG, Steelmaking Division
Wolfgang-Reuther-Platz
D-47053 Duisburg
Germany

Abstract
The charge mix of an Electric Arc Furnace is mainly determined by the steel quality or grade
to be produced. As the quality demands are steadily increasing, highest flexibility in terms of
charging scrap, DRI and hot metal, the use of different energy sources and the production of a
wide range of steel qualities is of extremely importance for the producer.
The SMS Demag CONARC process was developed for using any kind and mix of raw
materials like hot metal, DRI and scrap to ensure highest quality requirements for the
production of all steel grades covering a wide range from carbon to stainless steel.

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This report will show that the CONARC process is the best tailor-made solution for
steelmaking, allowing maximum flexibility without any equipment modifications when
producing carbon or stainless steel .

CONARC - Innovative Steelmaking by SMS Demag

In response to the challenges in the steelmaking market, SMS Demag presents a new combined technology that requires just one investment in both process lines for carbon and stainless steel production:
-

CONARC for Carbon Steel

CONARC for Stainless Steel
Before discussing these
two technological solutions we would like to
emphasise the requirements for some highquality steel products and
their consequences for
the charged raw material
as well as the technological steelmaking process
to be selected.

The requirements for

maximum tolerable
tramp elements (Cu + Cr
+ Ni + Mo) range from
0.13 % for deep-drawing
steel for automotive exposed body, cans and screen masks to -0.35 % for heavy plates for the shipbuilding industry,
boilers and welded pipes up to -0.8 % for seamless tubes for gas and oil drilling applications
(figure 1).
These tramp element requirements have a direct influence on the material that can be charged
in the steelmaking plant.

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Tramp element levels of, e.g., 0,13 % or 0,35 % can only be realised by using large percentages of virgin materials such as DRI, HBI, pig iron and hot metal. Scrap used as main charge
material needs to be blended with a significant amount of virgin materials. It is obvious that
steel mills based on scrap as charge material can hardly fulfil the stringent requirements imposed by most of the more sophisticated high-quality steel products.
The technological process selected for the steelmaking plant (figure 1) is greatly determined
by these tramp element requirements and the starting material charged. For products that require about 80% or more virgin hot metal the Oxygen Blowing Furnace (BOF) is applied with
good economic results. For material charges with a hot-metal content of only up to 30%, the
Electric Arc Furnace process should be selected. Here both alternatives, the AC or DC Furnace, can be applied depending on the capacity of the electrical power network.
The most flexible of all processes is the CONARC process in which the starting material
may on the one hand be chosen according to the requirements of the finished product and on
the other hand according to the economics of raw materials and energy sources available.
2

The CONARCCS Process for Carbon Steel

CONARC is the most flexible process to produce high-quality steel in a combination of the
EAF process and BOF process.
As you can see in figure
2, the CONARC process can operate with a
variety of different starting materials such as hot
metal, scrap, pig iron and
DRI.
The twin-vessel process
used a top-blowing lance
and electrically arcing
electrodes that can alternatively be used in both
identical vessels.
Depending on the finished-product requirements, the CONARC
process is followed by a
ladle furnace or a vacuum degassing unit.

Figure 3 shows the references for CONARC systems. The process unit at Saldanha Steel,
South Africa, consists of two 170-ton vessels and has a capacity of about 1.35 million tons per
year. Start-up was in 1998. So far the process exceeds all expectations in terms of flexibility
of the charged raw
materials.

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A further CONARC process unit is in operation at

Ispat Industries, India.
This CONARC consists
of two 180-ton vessels
with a final capacity of 3
million tons per year, using 2 CONARC units in
a second step.
Both CONARC process
units at Saldanha as well
as at Ispat operate upstream state-of-the-art
CSP plants.

In figure 4 you can see

the schematic principle
of the process sequences.
The process starts with
the oxygen-blowing
phase, which is followed
by the electric arcing
phase. The whole process
operates in sequences
interchangeable in both
vessels, starting with hot
metal charging, then the
oxygen lance is put into
operation and starts
blowing. At the end of
the blowing phase, solid
charge materials like
scrap and/or DRI are
charged into the vessel, the electrodes are swung in the operating position and arcing starts.
At the end of arcing, deslagging takes place. Finally the liquid steel is tapped into the ladle.
At Saldanha Steel the
relation between hot
metal and DRI as
charged material was
varied over a wide range.
In production (figure 5),
the relation of hot metal
and DRI covers a range
from 30 to 70 % up to 75
to 25 %.

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The graph shows that:

a power consumption
of less than 200 kWh/t
has been achieved,
the consumption of
oxygen was adjusted to
the increasing amount of
hot metal,
the tap-to-tap time representing the capacity of the CONARC process was kept
constant over the full raw-material range.
This new process for the production of high-quality carbon steel has been successfully introduced in the market and has opened a new avenue in terms of process flexibility.

The CONARC SS process for Stainless Steel

The successful results of the CONARC CS process for carbon steel gave rise to the idea of
introducing this innovative process also in the production of stainless steel.
The conventional stainless
steelmaking process as
shown in figure 6 starts
either with scrap or with
hot metal from a blast
furnace and ferro-alloys.
The hot metal has to be
treated in a special process
for decarburisation,
dephosphorisation and
desiliconisation (DDDunit) to satisfy the requirements of stainless
steel production.

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Depending on the finished

product mix and its average carbon content, the Duplex
or Triplex route is to be selected.
The Duplex route, represented by a one-step decarburisation, is best suited for carbon levels >
4 ppm.
If ultra low carbon levels (< 2 ppm - superferrite) represent a greater part of the product mix,
the Triplex process with its two-step decarburisation is the most economic process route.
The new CONARC SS
process for stainless steel
(figure 7) that combines
the EAF with the stainless-steel converter opens
up a new economic window for stainless steel
production.
All types of raw materials
can be charged, and even
products with an extralow carbon content (< 2
ppm) can be produced
using a VOD vacuum
tank degasser.

The process sequence as

shown in figure 8 is totally reverse to that of
carbon steel production.
As in conventional
stainless steel production, the process starts
with melting-down of
the scrap and ferroalloys
in an EAF. The second
phase, refining of the
steel, takes place in the
same vessel with oxygen
blowing in combination
with bottom stirring.
The complete process is
performed in only one
vessel which has outstanding economic advantages for the total production.
In comparison with the conventional Duplex or Triplex processes the CONARC SS process
yields a significantly
higher productivity (up
to 30 %) due to shorter
tap-to-tap times for the
entire process (figure 9).
Based on 150-ton melting units, capacities of
more than 1.1 million
tons per year can be produced.
Calculations demonstrate
that production cost
savings of up to 50 US$
per ton and a reduced
specific plant investment
of about 20% in comparison with conventional stainless steel
routes can be expected.

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Conclusion
The SMS Demag CONARC process is the new technology for the most economic way of
steelmaking given its extremely high flexibility in terms of:
charging of any kind and mix of raw materials
the use of different energy sources
the production of all steel grades covering a wide range from carbon to stainless steel.
The CONARC process is the best tailor-made solution for steelmaking, allowing maximum
flexibility without any equipment modifications when producing carbon or stainless steel.