Copyright 2014

Faculty of Technology
Editor in Chief: Riitta Keiski
Publisher: University of Oulu, Faculty of Technology, Process Metallurgy Group
Place of publication: Oulu
Serie founded: 1979
Former: University of Oulu, Faculty of Technology, Process Metallurgy Group. ISBN
978-952-62-0565-6
Cover: Old Cowper stove at Landschaftspark Duisburg-Nord, Germany. (Photo by Ville-
Valtteri Visuri)

UDK 669.118
ISBN 978-952-62-0565-6
ISSN 1458-6177

UNIPRINT
OULU 2014
University of Oulu
Faculty of Technology
Process Metallurgy Group
2
Abstract
Matti Aula, Anne Heikkilä, Mikko Iljana, Teija Sipola and Ville-Valtteri Visuri. Steel indus-
try - what they measure and how?
Process Metallurgy Group. PO Box 4300, FI-90014 University of Oulu, Finland
Layout: Anne Heikkilä and Ville-Valtteri Visuri

This work is a product of a postgraduate course during spring 2014. The report summarizes
different measurements used in the steel industry as well as their working principles and
applications. More specifically, the considered processes include sintering, submerged arc furnace,
blast furnace, ladle metallurgy, electric arc furnace and basic oxygen furnace. In addition to the
measurement techniques available to actual processes, some measurement techniques employed in
physical modelling are briefly introduced.

3
4
Contents
Abstract
Contents 5
1 Sintering 9
1.1 Sintering method in Tornio, Finland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
1.2 Mechanical properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.3 Fuel material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
1.4 Atmosphere analyzers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
1.4.1 Dew point analyzer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
1.4.2 Analyzer for analyzing oxygen in ppm level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
1.4.3 Hydrogen analyzer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
1.4.4 Infrared analyzers for CO, CO2 , and CH4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
1.5 Off-gases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
1.5.1 Electrostatic Precipitator ESP14
1.6 Temperature measurements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
1.7 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2 Submerged arc furnace, SAF 17
2.1 Ferrochrome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.2 Measurements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
2.2.1 Matte and slag levels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
2.2.2 Drill samples. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20
2.2.3 Gas analysis systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
2.2.4 Temperature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
2.3 Modelling and simulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
2.3.1 Electric field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
2.3.2 Transport phenomena . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
2.3.3 Current control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2.3.4 Artificial neural network for raw materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
2.3.5 Energy optimization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
2.3.6 Electrical measurements in submerged arc-resistance furnace . . . . . . 25
2.3.7 Temperature profile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

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3 Blast Furnace, BF 29
3.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
3.2 Burden distribution measurements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
3.2.1 Probe-type microwave detectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
3.2.2 Radars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
3.2.3 Acoustics applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
3.2.4 Blast furnace filling studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
3.3 Top gas temperature measurements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
3.3.1 Acoustic methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
3.3.2 Infrared camera systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
3.4 Tuyere phenomena detection systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
3.4.1 Raceway depth measurements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
3.4.2 Tuyere monitoring system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
3.4.3 Raceway temperature measurements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
3.5 Tapping control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
3.5.1 Control of liquid level and thermal state of the hearth . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
3.5.2 Hot metal temperature measurements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
3.5.3 Hot metal composition measurements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
3.6 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
4 Ladle metallurgy and steel cleanness 43
4.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
4.2 Monitoring devices in purging and mixing of liquid metal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
4.2.1 Vibration measurements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
4.2.2 Camera monitoring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
4.2.3 Electromagnetic stirring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
4.3 Steel composition and cleanness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
4.3.1 Deoxidation and desulphurization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
4.3.2 LIBS in steel analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
4.3.3 Potential online methods for inclusion studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
4.4 Vacuum treatment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
4.4.1 Hydrogen measurement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
4.4.2 Nitrogen measurement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
4.4.3 Oxygen activity in steel melt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
4.5 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

6
5 Electric Arc Furnace, EAF 57
5.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
5.1.1 Electric arc furnace (EAF) process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
5.1.2 EAF measurements and control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
5.2 Direct EAF measurements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
5.2.1 Contact measurements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
5.2.2 Remote measurements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
5.3 Indirect measurements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
5.3.1 Furnace mantel cooling water temperature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
5.3.2 Off-gas analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
5.3.3 Measurements of electrical parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
5.4 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
6 Basic Oxygen Furnace, BOF 67
6.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
6.2 Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
6.3 Microwave radar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
6.3.1 Radio Wave Interferometry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
6.3.2 Acoustic measurements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
6.3.3 Light sensors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .72
6.4 Infrared temperature measurement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
6.5 Sensor lances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
6.6 Drop-in thermocouples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
6.7 Off-gas measurements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
6.8 Measurement of refractory lining wear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
6.9 Measurement methods in water modelling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
6.9.1 Electrical conductivity method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
6.9.2 Particle Image Velocimetry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
6.9.3 Splashing measurement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
6.10 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

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8
1 Sintering
Anne Heikkilä
Research Group of Process Metallurgy, University of Oulu

Sintering is a process where solid objects are created from powders. During the
process material is heated under its melting point and the particles fuse together creating
the solid piece.

1.1 Sintering method in Tornio, Finland

Part of the feed material in ferrochromium production are chromite pellets. The chromite
pellets are sintered before they are fed to the submerged arc furnace. The raw chromite
pellets are put through sintering process which consists of the belt sintering process.
The base of the sintering furnace is a continuous perforated steel belt. The still wet
raw pellets are fed to the sintering furnace on top of already once sintered pellets, see
Figure 1. The sintered pellets on the bottom act as a buffer between the steel belt and the
heat of the furnace. (Köykkä 2000)

Fig 1. A sketch of the pellet feed on the sintering furnace. [modified from Mört
(1998)]

The sintering furnace can be divided into seven different sections, see Figure 2. The
sections are drying zone (390 ◦ C), heating zone (1190 ◦ C), sintering zone (1350 ◦ C),
leveling zone, and cooling zones I-III (1250 ◦ C, 1180 ◦ C, 520 ◦ C). The first three sections
have suction of gas at the bottom and the last three sections have gas blown from the

9
bottom of the perforated belt. The sintering belt moves at the speed of 0.6 m/min giving
the approximate time of 48 min for the pellet to go through the sintering process. (Mört
1998)

Fig 2. Belt sintering furnace. (1. Drying zone, 2. heating zone, 3. sintering zone,
4. leveling zone, 5. cooling zone I, 6. cooling zone II, 7. cooling zone III) [modified
from Kaskiala (1992)]

1.2 Mechanical properties

In order to improve mechanical properties, hardenability and cost efficiency traditional

wrought steel alloying elements (such as Cr) are used. The effect of sintering and
composition (graphite content, Mo content, Cr content) on the mechanical properties
of a chromium containing PM steel is presented in Castro et al. (2007). Sintering is
a critical stage in the development of mechanical properties in the oxygen sensitive
alloy systems. Hydrogen-nitrogen atmospheres with low oxygen content are needed
when sintering Cr-containing alloys. This is because chromium will oxidize when
the atmosphere has high CO2 /CO ratio. Cr alloys are more sensitive to atmosphere,
sintering time and temperature than Cu and Ni alloys. Increase in graphite content,
more precisely increase in carbon increases strength and reduces ductility. Increase in
Mo content increases strength. Changing graphite content makes it possible to achieve
similar properties with different Mo content. Cr level becomes more important when

10
Mo level decreases.
Both laboratory experiments as well as industrial experiments were made. Based on
the laboratory experiments sintering time (30 minutes) and temperature (1120 ◦ C) were
defined for the industrial experiments. Overall, increase in cooling rate improves the
strength. (Castro et al. 2007)

1.3 Fuel material

A fine-grained waste materials generated yearly need new methods for their management.
Such a method is presented in Niesler et al. (2014). In fine-grained waste material
grain size is mostly less than 2 mm. The waste materials include coal slurries, flotation
tailings, coal abrasive coke dusts, fine-grained fractions of coke breeze and coal soot.
Normally the fuel used in iron ore sintering processes is coke breeze. In the paper
fine-grained coke breeze is agglomerated by means of the granulation method using a
centrifugal pelletizer. This method yields more coarser-grained coke breeze which can
be used in ferriferous material sintering process. This method leads to higher process
efficiency, shorter sintering duration and fuel savings. (Niesler et al. 2014)

1.4 Atmosphere analyzers

Atmosphere during sintering process has an important role. The atmosphere must fulfill
special requirements such as efficient delubrication/dewaxing (preheat), oxide reduction
(sintering temperature), prevent oxidation (cooling) and control carbon content (sintering
temperature and cooling).
Atmosphere can be analyzed with different analyzers which include dew point
analyzer for water vapor, ppm range analyzer for oxygen in the cooling zone, hydrogen
analyzer and infrared analyzers for CO, CO2 and CH4 . (Linde AG 2011)

1.4.1 Dew point analyzer

Dew point is a certain temperature in which for example the water vapor in the air
condenses into liquid at the same rate it evaporates. There are different technologies for
measuring the dew point such as chilled mirror, capacitive metal oxide and capacitive
polymer technologies. (Vaisala 2010)

11
Chilled mirror

The chilled mirror technology yields a high accuracy over a wide range of dew points.
The working principle is based on the definition of dew point, more precisely cooling a
volume of air until condensation forms. A volume of measured gas is passed over a
chilled metallic mirror surface. Optical sensor is used to measure the reflected light.
When the mirror is cooled to the temperature where condensation begins to form on the
surface of the mirror, the amount of reflected light changes. This change in the amount of
reflected light is detected by optical sensor. The cooling rate is controlled by temperature
sensor on the mirror. When the equilibrium is reached the mirror temperature is equal to
the dew point. The chilled mirror technique is sensitive for the dirt, oil, dust and other
contaminants as well as needs frequent maintenance and cleaning. (Vaisala 2010)

Capacitive metal oxide sensor and capacitive polymer sensor

The capacitive metal oxide sensor is constructed from a substrate base layer, a lower
electrode, hygroscopic metal-oxide middle layer, and a water permeable upper electrode.
When the water vapor is absorbed by the metal oxide layer the capacitance between the
upper and lower electrode changes. This technology tends to provide an excellent low
dew point accuracy but long-term stability is not good with processes where dew points
vary at higher ranges. Furthermore the metal sensors may be damaged by high humidity
levels and condensation. (Vaisala 2010)
The operating principle of the capacitive polymer sensor is similar to capacitive
metal oxide sensor. The main differences are the material difference in the hygroscopic
layer and the capacitive polymer sensor is also bonded with a resistive temperature
sensors which measure the temperature of the polymer sensors. These two values are
used to calculate the dew point. (Vaisala 2010)

1.4.2 Analyzer for analyzing oxygen in ppm level

The oxygen in the cooling zone needs to be analyzed. Partial pressure of oxygen is the
pressure of oxygen in the mixture of gases. The oxygen in cooling zone can be measured
with different ppm analyzers. One example is zirconium dioxide oxygen analyzer.

12
Zirconium dioxide oxygen sensors

Zirconium dioxide oxygen sensors base their working principle to Nernst voltage. This
voltage appears and can be measured when two different ion concentrations exists on
either side of an electrolyte forming an electrical potential.
Zirconium dioxide sensors are plated on opposing sides with thin layers of platinum
which serve as the sensor electrodes. The partial pressure is created by exposing one
electrode to air and other to the sample gas. The measurable voltage is formed between
the electrodes when oxygen ions move across the zirconium dioxide. (Alpha Omega
Instruments 2014, Sensor Technics 2014)
The limitation of the zirconium dioxide sensor is that it needs at least some ambient
oxygen to operate. Trying to use this type of sensor for mixtures where reducing gases
(hydrocarbons of any species, hydrogen, and carbon monoxide) are present is not
advisable. The reducing gases will react with the oxygen before measurement and thus
received results are not correct. (Alpha Omega Instruments 2014, Sensor Technics 2014)

1.4.3 Hydrogen analyzer

Hydrogen gas has its own thermal conductivity which is known. Thus hydrogen can be
measured with a device which working principle is based on thermal conductivity. An
example of how such device work is a sensor that consists of four matched filaments
that change resistance according to the gas passing over the sensor. More precisely the
thermal conductivity of the gas yields the change in resistance in the device. (Systech
Instruments 2014)

1.4.4 Infrared analyzers for CO, CO2 , and CH4

Infrared gas analyzers are based on absorption. Different gases absorb different
wavelengths. The measurement device needs a closed chamber with see through ends
where the measured gas is. The infrared radiation is filtered to wanted wavelengths and
passed through the chamber containing the sample gas. The changed electromagnetic
spectrum is detected. Since each measurable component has its own infrared spectrum
the measurement is accurate. This type of gas analyzer never touches the sample gas
directly. (Eutech Instruments 2014)

13
1.5 Off-gases

In an integrated iron and steel plant iron ore, mostly hematite (Fe2 O3 ), is sintered.
During the iron ore sintering process large flows of off-gas are generated. Because
chlorine and volatile organic compounds are unavoidable in the feed material, trace
levels of dioxins and other chloroaromatics can be found. According to (Buekens et al.
2001) the extend of dioxin pollution is not completely clear. The pathways of dioxin
formation is under study in article presented by Buekens et al. (2001). Typical operating
parameters are temperature and off-gas composition. Samples were taken from the
multiple-field electrostatic precipitator (ESP) through which the off-gases are led as well
as solid samples collected from the sinter feed. The samples were analyzed for PCDD,
PCDF, PCBz, PCPh and PCB. All the samples contained measurable amounts of PCDD,
PCDF and PCB. Buekens et al. (2001) concluded that de novo synthesis of PCDD/F is a
plausible possibility in sintering process. Temperatures between 250 ◦ C and 400 ◦ C
are most suitable for the de novo synthesis to take place. In sintering process those
temperatures are reached during pre-heat and cooling period as well as in the off-gas
passages and collector ducts to the ESP. (Buekens et al. 2001)

1.5.1 Electrostatic Precipitator ESP

An electrostatic precipitator is an emission-control unit which removes dust particles

from industrial process, more precisely from exhaust gas stream. The working principle
is to first electrostatically charge the dust particles. Then the particles are transported to
and collected on collection devices where the charge is neutralized. After accumulating
sufficient amount of dust, the collectors are shaken and dust falls to hoppers situated
below. (Neundorfer 2014)

1.6 Temperature measurements

Temperature of the sintering furnace wall can be measured and thus also controlled.
Also the temperature of the sintered cake needs to be measured upon exit from the
heating zone. The measurement device for temperature can be infrared thermometer.
(Linde AG 2011) Infrared radiation is situated in the electromagnetic spectrum roughly
from 1 mm to 759 nm.
The infrared thermometer working principle is based on the emitted infrared energy

14
by measurable object which is then converted into a temperature value. Higher the
temperature more infrared energy it emits. When dealing with infrared thermometer
emissivity needs to be taken into account. Emissivity tells the object’s ability to emit or
absorb energy. Usually the infrared thermometer may have problems measuring the
accurate temperature on shiny metal surfaces unless the device can adjust to emissivity.
(Williamson 2014, Eutech Instruments 2014)

1.7 Summary

The following table includes a summary of measurable components in sintering process

presented in this chapter.

Table 1. Analyzing methods for sintering process.

Interest Analyzer Analyzes

Atmosphere Dew pont analyzer Dew point

Ppm range analyzer Oxygen
Hydrogen analyzer Hydrogen
Infrared analyzer CO, CO2 , CH4
Off-gases Electrostatic precipitator off-gas
Temperature Infrared thermometer Temperature

15
16
2 Submerged arc furnace, SAF
Anne Heikkilä
Research Group of Process Metallurgy, University of Oulu

During the last 100 years submerged arc furnaces have been used in many different
applications such as iron, ferroalloy, chemical industry, lead, zinc, copper, titanium
oxide, recycling etc. Ferroalloy industry is linked with steel industry. Pyrometallurgical
smelting takes place in submerged arc furnaces. This is how the majority of ferroalloys
is produced. (Kunze & Degel 2004)

2.1 Ferrochrome

High carbon ferrochrome is usually produced in submerged arc furnace. In the process
the carbonaceous reduction of chromite ore takes place. Submerged arc furnace’s feed
material consists of chromite ores, metallurgical coke and fluxes which are heated using
electric energy to produce the alloy. (Singh et al. 2007)
Let us take a closer look on ferrochrome production in Finland. Submerged arc
furnaces can be open or closed. In Outokumpu, Tornio the furnace is closed one. One
great advantage of the closed process is to use the forming CO-gas for example to heat
the burden batch before it descends to the actual furnace. In the open process it is not
possible to take advantage of the forming gases. (Pussinen 2010)
The feed material consists of chromite pellets, coke, lumpy ore and fluxes. The
CO-gas preheats the feed material to about 500 − 800 ◦ C before it descends to the
furnace. The preheating happens in preheat furnace just above the submerged arc
furnace. The preheat furnace is connected to the submerged arc furnace with feeding
pipes. The feeding pipes are always full, so they act at the same time as dispenser for
the submerged arc furnace. (Rousu 2008) A sketch of the submerged arc furnace with
preheat can be seen in Figure 3.

17
Fig 3. A sketch of submerged arc furnace with preheat. [Modified from Metallin-
jalostajat ry (2009)]

The submerged arc furnace has three Söderberg-electrodes. Electrodes are submerged
in the feed material. Every now and then the electrodes need to be extended for they
wear when used. The electric current runs through electrodes and creates heat which
enables the reduction reactions and eventually the formation of slag and metal. In
optimal situation the current path is via the metal bath. Problems occur when the current
shortcuts through the feed material too high in the furnace. This could happen due to the
wrong position of the electrode or too high electrical conductivity of the burden material
at the upper parts of the furnace.
Inside the submerged arc furnace near the electrodes forms the smelting zone where
reduction and melting start to happen. The order in which the reduction of metal oxides
happens depends on their stability. The reduced metal droplets sink at the bottom of the
furnace through the slag layer forming the liquid layer of metal. (Pussinen 2010) The
sketch of the furnace is presented in Figure 4.

18
Fig 4. A sketch of submerged arc furnace. [modified from Yang et al. (2004)]

The liquid metal and slag are tapped from the furnace at even times depending on
the furnace size. During the tapping phase temperatures for the metal and slag are
1570 − 1600 ◦ C and 1650 − 1780 ◦ C respectively. (Pussinen 2010)

2.2 Measurements

2.2.1 Matte and slag levels

In the ferronickel production it is important to acquire data about matte and slag levels.
The data is needed in decision making and furnace process optimization. Today’s state
of the art method is the sounding bar method. This method has well-known difficulties.
The sounding bar method is dependent on operator skill and interpretation and requires
operator to work in unsafe areas on and above the furnace. During the manual sounding
bar measurements the furnace must be switched off for safety reasons on the average 30
minutes. The method uses two heavy sounding bars which are operated from the roof
area of the furnace leading to the situation where slag and matte levels are measured
once or twice per day. (Brogden et al. 2013)
A new measurement method (Agellis EMLI-ELP) is presented in Brogden et al.
(2013). The principle of the Agellis EMLI-ELP system is based in the conductivity of
materials on an electromagnetic field. The lance is lowered to the bottom of the furnace
at steady rate. The changes in electromagnetic conductivity during the dip is recorded
and reveal the metal and slag layers. Metal layer detection using the Agellis EMLI-ELP

19
was ideal and slag level detection looked also very promising. (Brogden et al. 2013)

2.2.2 Drill samples

A sampling equipment has been developed for closed SAF and is presented in Ollila
et al. (2010). When the SAF is operational using a tilted drill tube for sampling is
possible. The drilling equipment used is small- to medium-size, 1800 kg, and has thrust
and stroke capabilities.
The diameter of the drill tube was 12 cm and inert gas (nitrogen) was flushing
through. The drilling tube was also water cooled- An access door (500 mm x 400 mm)
was made to the SAF for the drill tube. The sampling was done about an hour after
tapping and the angle was 25 degrees. A schematic picture of the sampling equipment
can be seen in Figure 5.

Fig 5. A schematic set up for the drill sampling. (modified from Ollila et al. (2010))

The drill tube collects particles from different depths and the particles are in the
same order they are in the furnace itself. It is possible to analyze the particles using
different analyzing methods (microscopic analysis, chemical analysis, dust analysis etc.)

20
depending on the area interested. (Ollila et al. 2010)

2.2.3 Gas analysis systems

If the submerged arc furnace is closed, it is possible to measure the off-gas. There are
different analyzing methods for gases, here mass spectrometer is presented. Note that
analyzers presented in chapter 2 are also available.

Mass spectrometer analyzer

The basic principle of mass spectrometer is ionization. The sample atoms are first
ionized and then accelerated so that all have the same kinetic energy. Then the ionized
atoms are led through a magnetic field where deflection happens. Each compound and
atom deflects differently when ionized and this is the way the analysis is achieved. After
deflection the ions are detected electrically. (ChemWiki 2014, Waters 2014)

2.2.4 Temperature

Infrared thermocouples can be used for measuring the temperature of metal in the runner.
For more information about infrared temperature measurements, see chapter 2.

2.3 Modelling and simulation

2.3.1 Electric field

Submerged arc furnace uses electricity. Thus furnaces have electric field and it is one of
the possible measurements. Problem is that electric field on the outside differs greatly
from the electric field on the inside of the furnace. Thus simulation is one way to try to
solve this obstacle. When building the simulation model one must take into account
the contact resistance between particles. Contact resistance represents a part of the
total resistance, the relative amount is about the same regardless of the temperature.
Furthermore the contact resistance is dependent of the contact area - resistance decreases
rapidly when contact area increases. Geometry of the furnace is taken into account
in the simulation. The aim of the model presented in Dhainaut (2004) is to map the
different paths the electrical current travels from one electrode to another. Electrodes

21
are positioned 1 m and 3 m above the metal bath. The burden material inside the
furnace is divided into different layers and every zone has different material data more
precisely electrical resistivity and conductivity. The furnace modelled runs on three
phase alternating current. When the electrodes are 1 m above the metal bath most of the
current (72 %) goes through the metal bath. This is not the case for the furnace when the
electrodes are 3 m above the metal bath, 63 % of the current short-cuts the metal bath
and goes directly from one electrode to other via coke and slag and only 36 % through
metal bath. (Dhainaut 2004)

2.3.2 Transport phenomena

Submerged arc furnace is used to smelt chromite ore into ferrochrome using a car-
bonaceous reductant for example coke. A large temperature gradients exist inside the
furnace, temperature varies form surface temperature of few hundred degrees to well
over 2000 degree Celsius near electrode tips. This means that there are different zones
and different reduction mechanisms inside the furnace. Temperature profile has a great
influence on the reduction rate. As a single chromite pellet descends through the furnace
it experiences increasing temperature and it is reduced by the ascending CO gas and is
promoted by contacted coke particles. In principle the computational fluid dynamics
(CFD) model for submerged arc furnace can handle fluid flow, heat and mass transfer for
furnace gases, molten slag and alloy, and the solid feed. A model for the gas flow in the
solid packed bed is described in (Yang et al. 2004) and it is based on the following
division. SAF process model is constructed as follows (Yang et al. 2004):

– Fluid flow (gas). This takes into account gas flow (CO/CO2 ), changing mass source,
turbulence, flow in packed bed (porous media), non-isothermal, electro-magnetic
force (Lorentz force).
– Heat transfer. Takes into account electrical heating, feed heating, reduction energy
consumption, wall heat loss, heat transfer (convection and radiation) and interaction
with melt.
– Mass transfer. Takes into account gas-solid chromite reduction, CO-CO2 equilibrium,
mass source for gas flow, reduction rate distribution, localized energy consumption
and temperature dependent reaction rate.

An overall process simulation model for ferrochromium production in submerged

arc furnace is presented in Yang et al. (2004). The model is not yet perfect and it is

22
expected that newer model will be more precise with individual sub-models and that it
will predict more accurately the temperature distribution of the gas, distribution of the
reduction degree or metallization of the feed, influence of carious operating conditions
(feed porosity change, electrode penetration depth, power level) and influence of furnace
geometry variations. (Yang et al. 2004)

2.3.3 Current control

One of the ferroalloys is ferrosilicon 75% (FeSi), which consists of silicon (75%) and
iron. The raw materials consists mainly of quarts, coal and coke. Like in ferrochrome
production, the feed material is charged from the top into the cylindrical furnace. Three
electrodes are submerged into the feed material in the furnace. (Hauskdottir et al. 2002)
It is difficult to find the best control strategy for the furnace. One must take into
account chemical as well as electrical factors, whose interactions are not completely
known. One interesting question is should the furnace be operated under current or
resistance control. Different control strategies have been considered. One strategy is to
control the resistance value detected by each electrode. In other strategies the current
control of the electrode is the main issue. These strategies are usually performed by
changing the electrodes’ positions. (Hauskdottir et al. 2002)
The present current controller at Iceland Alloys Ltd is composed of three single-input
single-output (SISO) loops, one for each electrode. The SISO loops control electrodes
independently of other others. But as can be expected moving one electrode affect the
other two. Other ways to control the furnace are to control the electrode voltage by
stepping it up or down and to control the raw materials.(Hauskdottir et al. 2002)
Hauskdottir et al. (2002) use simulator to compare the decoupling controller to
the conventional current controller which controls the current in each of the electrode
independently. Earlier developed models describe the furnace controller, the electrode
position equipment, the dynamics from the electrode positions to the electrode current
and the disturbance environment. These essentially form FeSi furnace simulator. The
decoupling controller suppresses the current deviations by neutralizing the inherent
coupling between the electrodes at the cost of a slight increase in electrode movements.
The electrode position equipment can still withstand this movement without falling
apart. It was found out that the decoupling controller provides an excellent candidate for
implementation in three-phase submerged arc ferrosilicon furnace. (Hauskdottir et al.
2002)

23
2.3.4 Artificial neural network for raw materials

Chromite ore is used in various forms (pellets, briquettes and lumps) in submerged arc
furnace when producing ferrochrome. The form used depends on the availability of ores
and economical situation of process. The composition and distribution of raw material is
of great importance in the furnaces, more precisely the smelting process. By varying the
raw material composition, the desired bed porosity and electrical properties such as
permeability and conductivity are achieved.(Singh et al. 2007)
The complete process dynamics is still a black box when it comes to the production
of ferrochrome in submerged arc furnace. Attempts has been made to optimize the raw
material combinations but it has not been very successful. Singh et al (Singh et al. 2007)
use artificial neural network approach which has been useful in various metallurgical
processes including plant control and optimization. The idea is to find the best raw
material combination and to predict the performance of the furnace using the artificial
neural networks.
Production capability index (PCI) is defined simply as a ration between the produc-
tion of the day and maximum production achieved by the furnace in ideal conditions.
Artificial neural networks with statistical method are used to predict the proposed
production capability index for raw material combinations such as sintered chrome ore
pellets, briquettes, lumps, coke and quartzite in ferrochrome production. First the PCI
was predicted using five different methods (multilinear regressional analysis, resilient
back propagation, scaled conjugate gradient back propagation, Levenberg-Marquardt
optimization and radial basis neural network). The resilient back propagation algorithm
yielded the best regressional coefficient 0.71. Then the artificial network was applied
to improve the prediction accuracy of PCI. Four types of neural network were used
with different architectures. Still neither the artificial neural network nor the statistical
methods could predict efficiently the lower ranges of PCI. This could be improved
by increasing the reliable training data sets which were not available in Singh et al.
(2007). It was also noted that the operational parameters and ore change continuously.
For example the chemical and physical properties of ore play an important role in
performance of the furnace. (Singh et al. 2007)

24
2.3.5 Energy optimization

Number and size of submerged arc furnaces have increased during recent decades.
This increase in furnace powers makes the cost efficiency even more important. Power
optimization is one way to reduce the energy costs. Before using and optimization
algorithm furnace should be modeled to with respect to energy cost. Used energy is
determined by power and time, thus making the voltage, resistance and temperature
important variables in the optimization process. However it is difficult to model the
SAF according to the mechanisms of the actual furnace because of its complexity and
many disturbances. A particle swarm optimization method and back-propagation neural
network are used in (Amadi & Wang 2012) to model the SAF. Using the created model
the minimum power and the corresponding variables are obtained. The optimal results
are then tested to see if they fit the data from real SAF plant. It was found out that the
proposed method is acceptable. (Amadi & Wang 2012)

2.3.6 Electrical measurements in submerged

arc-resistance furnace

Ferrosilicon is one basic raw materials in steel making industry and can be produced
in submerged arc-resistance furnace. Producing ferrosilicon this way is very power
consuming. Thus reduction in power looses is very desirable and it can be done by
appropriate control of the entire process but it requires a great knowledge about raw
materials, process and its thermal and electrical parameters.
The furnace can be controlled three ways: controlling the raw materials, moving
the electrodes and stepping up or down the electrode voltage. Keeping a constant
impedance or constant current is not enough to provide optimal supply conditions and
production. Dynamic and extensive measurements for the furnace have been developed
and presented in Baron et al. (2012). Measurements were made to observe the state
of the transition of the furnace from asymmetry to symmetry. Identification of the
parameters for each period of the waveforms of the arc current and voltage has been
made from recorded waveforms.
The transition from the asymmetrical state to the symmetrical state in the furnace
is a long time processes in which the control requires adequate knowledge of the
operator. The dynamical state of the electric arc burning under each electrode can be
described in form of hysteresis curves. The asymmetric and symmetric operating states

25
are discernible in the waveforms of voltages and currents processed using elementary
methods of signal processing. When the measurements are processed accordingly both
the operator awareness is developed and the process control is better. (Baron et al. 2012)

2.3.7 Temperature profile

Temperature profile in submerged arc furnace has a great influence on the efficiency of
the ferroalloy production. Energy consumption and quality of the produced metal are
affected by the temperature profile. In ideal situation the temperature of the molten
slag and metal are kept just above melting point to ensure free flow of the liquids.
Unnecessarily high temperature near the hearth and the walls causes rapid erosion of the
refractory and increases heat loss. Too low temperature affects the fluidity and can
lead to decreased level of chemical reduction of the oxides thus resulting in reduced
recoveries. The oxides inside the furnace reduce at different heights. Thus there must
be sufficient time for oxides to reduce before the charge melts and reaches the slag
layer. Ideal temperature profile also allows the useful oxides to reduce and minimize the
reduction of the oxides that contribute to the impurities in the metal. The power supply,
charge resistivity, bed porosity, charge preheat and kinetics of reduction oxides have an
effect on the temperature profile. (Ranganathan & Godiwalla 2001)
A model has been made to demonstrate the temperature profile (Ranganathan &
Godiwalla 2001) in the submerged arc furnace. The model was used to see the influence
of charge preheating, bed porosity and redistribution of charge.

Charge preheating

There is no big difference in the temperature profile between no preheat and preheating
the charge up to 250 ◦ C. But a difference can be seen in temperature profile when the
charge is preheated to 550 ◦ C. For example when preheating the charge to 250 ◦ C the
54% of the surface of the wall experiences a temperature of 400 ◦ C or higher. When
preheat is increased to 550 ◦ C about the 74% of the surface experiences temperature of
400 ◦ C or higher. This temperature of 400 ◦ C is chosen arbitrarily to compare the results.
(Ranganathan & Godiwalla 2001)

26
Bed porosity

The considered charge consists of a mixture of friable ores, sintered pellets and hard
lumps. The pellets were regular in shape and uniform in size but the two other charges
were irregular in shape. The distribution of the size is not controlled even if there are
minimum and maximum limits for the particle sizes. Thus it is normal that the bed
porosity varies. Temperature profile has been modeled for bed porosity of 10%, 20%
and 30%. It was found out that at bed porosity of 10% about 59% of the surface of
the walls of the furnace experiences a temperature of 600 ◦ C or less. At bed porosities
20% and 30% this increases to 77% and 79% respectively. It is good to remember
that too closely packed bed will hinder the flow of the charge and affect negatively to
the gas flow. Thus it is important to operate the furnace with optimum bed porosity.
(Ranganathan & Godiwalla 2001)

Redistribution of charge

Flux is added to the submerged arc furnace to reduce the melting temperature of the
slag. Quartz is used as a flux and 50% of the silica in charge comes from it. Three
cases of charge redistribution were explored. 1) Silica was removed from inner zone
of the furnace and this increased the area covered by isotherm of 2000 ◦ C. 2) Silica
was removed from the inner zone and replaced with an equal amount of ore and
correspondence level of coke. This decreases the size of the high temperature zone
because the endothermic heat required to reduce the chromite in ore. 3) Silica is removed
from the inner zone of the furnace and same amount is charged to the outer zone.
These both reduced the heat requirement in the inner region and enhanced sensible heat
required in the outer region to heat the extra charge added. (Ranganathan & Godiwalla
2001)

27
28
3 Blast Furnace, BF
Mikko Iljana
Research Group of Process Metallurgy, University of Oulu

3.1 Introduction

Blast Furnace (BF) process is a traditional way to produce hot metal. A blast furnace is
a shaft furnace, which is charged with iron bearing materials (pellets, sinters and/or
lump ore), reducing agents (metallurgical coke) and additives (limestone, quartz, BOF
slag). Metallurgical coke and auxiliary reducing agents (pulverised coal, oil, natural gas)
are used to reduce iron oxides and melt the burden. Additives are used to adjust the
composition of the slag in order to keep it running. Liquid hot metal and slag are tapped
from the taphole(s) in the furnace hearth. The hot metal is further refined into crude
steel in a Basic Oxygen Furnace (BOF).
Blast furnaces are nowadays operated close to their thermodynamic limit and big
development steps for instance in the total consumption of reducing agents cannot
be done. Instead, the control of blast furnaces can be even improved with novel
measurements in combination with mathematical models. For the control of the blast
furnace process and the extension of the campaign life, the development of measurement
technologies for blast furnace iron making is nowadays one of the most important
research targets in many steel companies. However, high temperature and pressure
and dusty operational environment in the blast furnace are always a challenge for the
development and proper function of new measurement systems. (Du et al. 2012)

3.2 Burden distribution measurements

For many years the only way to determine the burden surface position in blast furnaces
was by stock rod measurements or similar mechanical methods. Weakness of the
mechanical methods is discontinuity. Nowadays, these methods have been replaced with
radar technology in many blast furnaces. Radar technology is also used to determine
the burden profile along a radius in the furnace by organizing several radars as a row
matrix along the radius providing spot measurements. Another approach is a radar

29
antenna mounted on an axis that is moving along the radius in the furnace continuously
measuring the profile during movement. Yet another application is to organize a number
of radars as a square matrix in the furnace to get an image of the burden distribution.
(Nilsson & Malmberg 2008)

3.2.1 Probe-type microwave detectors

The burden profile provides essential operational information of the status of the furnace.
A proper distribution of burden materials improves the permeability of the blast furnace,
gas utilization and the stability of the process. For monitoring the burden profile during
operation, commercial probe-type microwave detectors are available. The probe is
mechanically pushed into the furnace through valves from the wall to the center of the
furnace, while the microwave unit installed inside the probe tip continuously measures
the distance to the burden surface. As a result, a burden profile along a specified
radial direction is obtained. However, gas leakages from the valves and heavy duty for
the maintenance as well as enormous size of the measuring device have limited the
utilization of the detectors. To promote the efficiency of the blast furnaces, also online
burden profile monitoring systems have been developed. (Du et al. 2012) Generally, dust
has been the main problem liming the development of online burden profile measuring
technologies (Lu et al. 2010).

3.2.2 Radars

Many non-contact methods, including vision based methods, interferometry and

time-of-flight, have been proposed for surface profile measurement in the past few
decades. Among these measurement principles, time-of-flight has been proven to
be the most promising technology for burden measurement, as it offers an extended
measurement range with centimeter accuracy. The microwave and laser are two forms
of electromagnetic waves that are commonly used for time-of-flight measurement
differing only by their wavelengths. The laser spot is much smaller due to its short
wavelength nature, and therefore a better measurement resolution can be obtained. One
overwhelming benefit offered by the microwave is its superior particle penetration
property in dusty environment. Instead of continuous measuring, 3D laser technology
can be applied at scheduled shut-downs during which time the dust intensity inside the
furnace is much reduced. (Lu et al. 2010)

30
 The operational principle of radars is detecting the burden surface through transmit-
ting and receiving the radar wave. A single radar measurement cannot fully reflect the
actual situation of the burden surface inside the blast furnace, so it can be only used as a
simple fixed-point detection. A virtual 3D imaging of the burden profile can be achieved
with a reconstruction algorithm of multi-radar data. (Chen et al. 2009) 3D imaging
of the burden surface with microwave technology enables the control of the charging
sequences and thus optimization of gas utilization in the blast furnaces (Malmberg et al.
2007).
One successful example of implementing an online burden distribution measuring
system in the blast furnaces comes from China Steel Corporation (CSC) in 2007. A
virtual 3D imaging of the burden surface is achieved with 6-radars array in the blast
furnace. The measurement chamber mounted at the top cone of the furnace consists of a
microwave radar unit and a driving device which is capable of rotating the radar to
measure the burden levels along a specified direction. Generally, the measurement can
be accomplished within 50 seconds for taking a radial burden profile. The burden level
descending rate can be evaluated from two profiles taken in the same charging interval.
Also a laser range finder with dust filters was tested, but during a plant trial it was found
out that the efficiency of the dust filters was not enough to overcome the influence of the
intensive dust blowing in an operating blast furnace. At China Steel Corporation (CSC)
the microwave burden profile measurement system has become a standard measurement
facility in the blast furnaces. (Chen et al. 2012, Du et al. 2012)

3.2.3 Acoustics applications

The uniformity of the charging in the blast furnaces can be assessed with an acoustic
measurement. In the RFCS project named ”Enhanced blast furnace operation and service
life by improved monitoring and control of the hearth and uniformity” an acoustic sensor
was fitted outside of the blast furnace top to monitor the sound as the material cascaded
out of the bunker and down the chute. Typical coke and ferrous discharge signals are
depicted in Figure 6. By monitoring the noise level the start and the end of the discharge
could be accurately determined.

31
Fig 6. Typical coke and ferrous discharge signals (modified after Höfer et al.
(2008)).

Combining the acoustic signal to chute position and the hopper load cell value,
the quantities of coke and ferrous material in different parts of the stockline could
be calculated and the ore/coke distribution estimated. As a result an estimate of the
distribution of the coke and ferrous materials around the furnace could be made. (Höfer
et al. 2008) It must be noticed that by these acoustic sensors only an estimate of the
charge material distribution in the blast furnace stockline can be made and they do not
give a direct measurement of the burden profile.

3.2.4 Blast furnace filling studies

Laser technology has been used for bell-less top blast furnaces when filling them for
instance after repair. With laser net and laser scan technology, the falling curves of
discharges and burden profiles can be determined accurately and quickly. In order to
remove the majority of the dust from the furnace hindering the laser beams, fresh air
blowers and exhaust fans must be used. Normally, three mechanical stockline rods and
one microwave stockline rod are used in one of the United States Steel Corporation’s
blast furnaces to measure the burden profile. (Gao et al. 2012, Zhao 2011)
Based on data obtained from laser measurements during filling study, BF burden
distribution simulation model has been applied in daily routine in US Steel. The main
goal of the model is to obtain location, thickness and shape of ore and coke layers.
Ore/coke curves along furnace radius can be obtained through calculations. (Gao et al.
2012) Additionally, the online laser scanning application can detect irregularities in the

32
blast furnace process such as burden collapsing (Gao et al. 2013).

3.3 Top gas temperature measurements

The top gas temperature profile indicates the gas flow routes and is essential to know in
order to adjust the burden distribution in a blast furnace.

3.3.1 Acoustic methods

The acoustic gas temperature measurement, also known as sonic pyrometry, is a non-
contacting measurement method based on the temperature dependence of the acoustic
velocity. The system consists of at least eight identical transceivers each operating
as transmitter and receiver, an external control unit and an external evaluation unit.
Transceivers are installed in the blast furnace wall below the top cone. Each transmitter
emits sound and other transceivers record it. Because the square root of the absolute
temperature is proportional to the speed of sound at that given temperature, the gas
temperature can be calculated based on the travel time (time of flight) of the sound
pulse and the known distance between transmitter and receiver. A specially developed
tomography algorithm computes all measurements to reflect a complete 2D isothermal
view of the top gas temperature (see Figure 7). This view is updated every 4-6 seconds.
The system can be easily integrated into existing and new blast furnaces and is able
to track the central gas channel position and detect secondary and wall gas channels.
The device manufacturer promises the measurement error to be less than 2.5 % and
the system to be virtually maintenance-free. (TMT 2014, Tonteling et al. 2013a,b,
Zimmermann & Jansen 2014)

33
Fig 7. Generation of 2D top-gas temperature distribution (modified after TMT
(2014)).

The equipment manufacturer highlights that the acoustic temperature measurement

is superior in performance, precision, reliability and process feedback to the classic
temperature probes. (Tonteling et al. 2013b) An acoustic top gas temperature measure-
ment application was implemented in one of the blast furnaces in Dillingen in 2011 and
experiences have been very promising. The system gives strong support to BF engineers
e.g. for choosing a suitable charging program. (Rausch et al. 2014)

3.3.2 Infrared camera systems

The infrared camera systems have been argued not to adapt to measuring the top gas
temperature, although there are a couple of examples of imaging methods applied to
measuring the burden surface temperature in China. In these applications an infrared
camera is located in the top of the furnace and gray-scaled images of the burden surface
are taken reflecting the temperature of the burden surface. The camera is especially
suited to monitor how much wall flow or center flow may exist. However, the infrared
camera can only film the central and middle area of the burden surface because of the

34
dead-zone in space. A top camera monitoring system has been in use in one of the
United Steel Corporation’s blast furnaces since 2006 providing valuable information for
troubleshooting and process optimization. (An et al. 2011, Tonteling et al. 2013b, Zhao
2011)
At WISCO, the model of gas distribution evaluation system is one of the most
important technologies for the expert system. In order to adjust the burden distribution,
600 infrared images captured in each hour are classified and evaluated there. The
classification of infrared images is done based on histograms of the grey distribution and
the method of k-means. If there are a lot of images of high brightness, that means there
is big center gas and the change of the curves corresponds to the variation of the center
flow. (Chen et al. 2009)

3.4 Tuyere phenomena detection systems

The raceway behavior can presently be considered as one of the limiting factors for
reaching stable and safe blast furnace operation at high injection rates (excess of 200-210
kg/tHM PCI) and at low coke charging rates. Therefore, if further increasing the coal
injection rate the measuring technologies for assessing the raceway condition must be
developed. Furthermore, the size of blast furnaces has increased in recent years and
the raceway conditions have become more important in the BF operation. (Hahlin &
Malmberg 2006, Malmberg et al. 2007, Matsui et al. 2005)

3.4.1 Raceway depth measurements

Attempts to control the raceway depth have been made with many different technologies,
however none of them have had the capability to act during operation. By using
microwave technology the problem with interfering obstacles such as pulverized coal
injection (PCI) can be avoided. The operational principle of microwave technology
in raceway depth measurements is transmitting a left polarized microwave signal at a
well-defined frequency from the tuyere and measuring the difference in phase between
the transmitted and received signal (see Figure 8). With signal treatment the distance
to the raceway can be established. (Hahlin & Malmberg 2006, Malmberg et al. 2007,
Matsui et al. 2005)

35
Fig 8. Microwave technique to determine the raceway depth (modified after Matsui
et al. (2005)).

In the RFCS project named ”Improvement of raceway monitoring under modern

blast furnace operating conditions” the microwave technique was developed for on-line
determination of raceway depth on industrial installations. The microwave technology
was found to be appropriate for measuring the variations in the raceway depth during
blast furnace operation and was validated with core drilling measurements showing a
well-correlated conformity. (Hahlin & Malmberg 2006, Lectard et al. 2010, Malmberg
et al. 2007, Malmberg 2008)

3.4.2 Tuyere monitoring system

Microwave technique for raceway monitoring is flexible. It can be adapted to different

blow pipe designs and additional feature, such as video camera, can be implemented. A
video system filming the raceway was implemented and tested at Arcelor Dunkerque
BF4 in an above mentioned RFCS project. The video system worked during the
measuring period, but the picture was very bright and the full tuyere tip was not shown
(see Figure 9A). It was concluded that the video system must be improved with a better
camera alignment and improved light filtering. A darker filter to lower the light intensity
has to be used. Instead in China a tuyere camera system has been implemented to some
blast furnaces (see Figure 9B). The tuyere phenomena detection system provides the
visualization of the tuyeres for a continuous and objective evaluation of the injection
conditions. With a new BF tuyeres monitoring system, operators can watch the state of
the combustion of the pulverized coal, the state of circling of the coke and dropping
state of the unreduced ore in real time in the control room, adjust the operation quickly
and find the accidents such as injection stop, tuyeres wear and water leakage. A tuyere
camera system improves also working safety because earlier the BF operators could only

36
watch the BF tuyeres momently by naked eyes. (Gao et al. 2006, 2010, 2012, Lectard
et al. 2010, Matsuzaki et al. 2013, Simoes et al. 2012)

Fig 9. a) A video camera image of raceway (modified after Lectard et al. (2010)). b)
An image of the 12 tuyeres monitoring system (modified after Gao et al. (2006)).

A tuyere phenomena detection system by Paul Wurth similar to Figure 9B has been
installed to two blast furnaces in Rogesa Dillinger Hütte. It has been designed to resist
to the harsh conditions with regard to dust and temperature in the tuyere level. The
system has made possible stable PCI operation with increased injection rates of up to
220 kg/tHM. (Zewe et al. 2014)

3.4.3 Raceway temperature measurements

The raceway temperature can be measured with optical fibers mounted in a special
designed lance. The optical fiber transfers the thermal radiation from the raceway to a
spectrometer which measures the optical spectrum of radiation. The temperature in the
raceway can be calculated using the Planck radiation law. The measured temperatures
are estimates and give the direction of temperature change for instance when adjusting
process parameters. (Hyllander et al. 2012).

3.5 Tapping control

The blast furnace hearth plays a vital role for the operation since the molten phases
produced (hot metal and slag) have to be drained smoothly from the process to avoid
disturbance in the lower part of the BF, but the ways to assess the liquid levels in the
hearth and flows from the hearth during tapping are strongly limited. The liquid level in
the hearth as well as the thermal state of the iron and slag in the hearth are of particular

37
concern. Many methods to measure and predict these two variables have been employed
with varying degrees of success. (Alter et al. 2013)
The tapping of liquid hot metal and slag through the taphole is currently carried out
mainly based on the operator’s experience. This routine activity is of crucial importance
to prevent catastrophic events in the BF operation. If too less liquid is remained in the
hearth, the gas goes out of the taphole hindering the energy control of the furnace and
working safety. This situation - known as whistling - is very complex for operators
because closing the taphole under this condition is very complicated and sometimes
almost impossible. (Ruiz-Bustinza et al. 2012)

3.5.1 Control of liquid level and thermal state of the hearth

The liquid levels in the BF hearth can be indirectly followed by mathematical modelling
using material balances, applying appropriate filtering techniques, but to avoid drift the
approach requires access to verifying measurements. In order to advise the optimal
moment for closing the taphole, two concurrent systems have been developed. The first
one corresponds to a Fuzzy Logic model which analyses the slopes and inflection points
of electromotive forces (EMF) signal probes located on top and underneath the taphole
on the BF shell. During tapping a graph is drawn based on EMF data indicating the state
of the tapping. The second system uses image treatment of hot metal and slag flow
running out of the taphole. The action of these concurrent systems is parallel at all time
and any of them is able to activate the alarms to identify the best moment for closing the
taphole. The advisor system is a warning tool for the operator and consists of a traffic
light with following current states: green → normal tapping; amber → pay attention,
more slag than iron; pink: pay attention to close the taphole; red → close immediately
(see Figure 10). (Ruiz-Bustinza et al. 2010, 2012)

38
Fig 10. Taphole control light system (modified after Ruiz-Bustinza et al. (2012))

The EMF measurement of the hearth has been installed at 10 ArcelorMittal blast
furnaces in the Americas at 2007-2013. The principle of EMF is basically a measurement
of the voltage across two points on the hearth shell. Each furnace uses the data from
the EMF signals differently, but there are also some similarities in the value of the
EMF signal to blast furnace operators. Liquid level in the hearth can be implied
through observations of the short-term trends and the thermal state of the hearth through
longer-term changes in the EMF signal. (Alter et al. 2013)
Additionally, strain gauges measuring local stresses on the furnace hearth shell have
been studied for on-line monitoring of the blast furnace shell deformation and could
possibly be utilized in the tapping control (Bigos et al. 2012)

3.5.2 Hot metal temperature measurements

The temperature of hot metal is a crucial indicator of the BF thermal state. Generally the
temperature of hot metal during tapping is measured by a rod with a thermocouple
introduced by an operator once or a couple of times during tapping (spot measurement).
In the RFCS project named Hearth Efficiency (”Improvement of hearth drainage
efficiency and refractory life for high BF productivity and a well-adjusted reductant
injection rate at varying coke quality”) a continuous online measurement system of
the hot metal temperature (see Figure 11) in runners during tapping was designed in
ArcelorMittal Spain in order to provide online information from the trend of the process
status and allowing faster response from BF operators. The online device measured the
temperature of hot metal with high accuracy. The drawback was that the ceramic sheath

39
became quite fragile in high temperatures, and so a great effort must be done to avoid
breaking it. After the use, no remarkable corrosion was observed. (Kaymak et al. 2012)

Fig 11. Online temperature measurement system in the iron runner (modified after
Kaymak et al. (2012))

In addition to thermocouples, pyrometers are available to measure high temperatures.

The pyrometer is a device that intercepts and measures thermal radiation. The thermal
radiation can be used to determine the temperature of an object’s surface. (Ravindran
1998). The problem with pyrometers is lowered accuracy due to disturbances such as
dust, changes in the geometry of liquid surface and slag floating on the iron surface. A
pyrometer measuring the hot metal temperature in the runner has been introduced to the
Raahe blast furnaces a couple of years ago.

3.5.3 Hot metal composition measurements

Silicon content in hot metal is an important indicator of the hearth state because it is
linked to the hot metal temperature. A better control of the silicon content could result in
lower temperatures with large cost savings in the hot metal production. Traditionally, the
hot metal composition is analysed from lollipop samples taken from the hot metal ladle.
The company TMT has developed a new method to measure online the silicon content in
hot metal and the hot metal temperature in the blast furnace runners. The technique is
based on LIBS (Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy). So far, the prototype has
been tested by ArcelorMittal and the technique was found to be applicable to the blast
furnace process. The accuracy of the prototype was ±10% in the silicon content in the
hot metal and ±15 ◦ C in the hot metal temperature. Currently, an industrial version is

40
under development. (Monfort et al. 2014)

3.6 Summary

Novel measurements from the blast furnace process are a prerequisite for a process
optimization system. The process optimization system consists of process models (for
instance burden distribution model). (Lingiardi et al. 2014) Blast furnace visualization
and simulation technologies assist operators understand blast furnace process better.
Simulation models are tools to guide burden charging operation and let operators know
the equipment running statuses, burden surface profile and gas flow distribution, working
status of each tuyere etc. Irregular phenomena inside the furnace and equipment troubles
can be also detected immediately. Operators can use these applications to run a BF more
smoothly and actively with steady production, long maintenance interval, higher gas
utilization ratio and lower fuel ratio. (Gao et al. 2012)
The automatic phenomena detection system utilizing the novel measurements of the
process can be connected to the automation system. In the case of abnormal situation,
the system makes automatically an alarm which gives operators a possibility to correct
the process situation quickly. (Gao et al. 2012, Simoes et al. 2012)
A summary of the novel measurement methods that have been presented for the
blast furnace process and their applications is listed in Table 2.

41
Table 2. Summary of measurement methods applicable to the BF process.

Measurement method Main applications

Microwave technology Stockline measurement, 3D imaging of the burden

surface, raceway depth measurement, hot metal
level measurement in the torpedo ladle,
slag composition and thickness measurement
Laser technology Stockline measurement,
burden surface profile measurement
Acoustic methods Top gas temperature measurement,
burden distribution measurement
Optical fibers Raceway temperature measurement
Electromotive forces (EMF) Tapping control (liquid level and
thermal state of the hearth)
Strain gauges Tapping control
Thermocouples Hot metal temperature measurement
Pyrometers Online measurement of hot metal temperature
Laser Induced Breakdown Online measurement of the hot metal
Spectroscopy (LIBS) concentration and temperature

42
4 Ladle metallurgy and steel cleanness
Teija Sipola
Research Group of Process Metallurgy, University of Oulu

4.1 Introduction

Ladle treatments are also referred as secondary refining or ladle metallurgy. Ladle treat-
ments include deoxidation, temperature and liquid steel composition homogenization,
inclusion removal, alloying and vacuum treatments (degassing). (Metallinjalostajat ry
2009) This literature survey includes online measuring and monitoring systems for ladle
treatments. Monitoring equipment for liquid steels properties as temperature and mixing
and chemical properties as composition of liquid steel are dealt with. One of the most
interesting topics in secondary metallurgy is efficient inclusion removal. This survey
focuses on online techniques in inclusions studies and possible new potential solutions
to study steel cleanness and composition. Offline methods for steels cleanness analyses
are briefly summarized.

4.2 Monitoring devices in purging and mixing of liquid

metal

Stirring and purging with inert gas are essential part of ladle treatment. Gas can be
supplied from bottom of the ladle through porous plugs or from the top through a
submerged lance. Bottom gas stirring is used to remove inclusions from the liquid
steel, homogenize steel compositions in alloying, equalize steels temperature and also
to accelerate slag-metal interactions. Controlled, strong stirring is also important in
desulphurization and dephosphorization processes. Deoxidation and inclusion removal
stages requires low stirring rates to avoid reoxidation of steel.
Careful stirring in alloying stage ensures the inclusion accumulation to the top slag.
Too strong stirring causes reoxidation of liquid steel, inclusion collision and therefore
formation of macro inclusions and also, erosion of refractory lining material of the ladle.
Monitoring the stirring processes face many challenges due to severe temperature and
safety issues of the process. Stirring intensity can be monitored from the vibration of the

43
ladle, free surface flow on fluctuation of liquid metal with cameras or the sound that
generates from the process. (Xu et al. 2010)
In a study by Xu et al. (2010), an online method was presented for monitoring
stirring process in ladle treatment. Study was a cold model not an industrial trial. The
study combined a video signal from the top surface (liquid metal and slag) to noise and
vibration signal generated from gas stirring. Principal component analysis (PCA) was
used. This combined signal was used in analysis of stirring intensity of the liquid metal.
Although study found a good correlation between the PCA system and stirring intensity,
the system wasn’t tested in industrial circumstances.

4.2.1 Vibration measurements

The principle of this method is to measure ladle vibration that is caused by inert gas
bubbles (argon or nitrogen) rising to the surface during purging. The vibration can be
measured either using accelerometers that are in contact with the ladle unit (figure 12) or
with non-contact method laser vibrometers. Both techniques were widely studied and
evaluated in European commission final report. (Nadif et al. 2012)
Laser vibrometer system has some drawbacks compared to accelerometers such as
difficulties in calibration, positioning both the laser source and the receiver correctly as
well as higher price over accelerometers. Laser beam needs a transparent window to the
ladle in order to get the signal from the steel surface. The benefits of the laser system are
that the vibration measurement is performed contact free and their accuracy is relatively
good. Accelerometers have their own drawbacks too, e.g. effect of temperature and
placement of the contact sensor. Figure 12 has an example of accelerometer placement
in ladle furnace. Accelerometers can also be attached to other process units were gas
stirring is used (ex. g. vacuum tank degasser). (Nadif et al. 2012)

44
Fig 12. Monitoring system of stirring in ladle furnace using accelerometer sensors
in measuring vibration. Modified from Yuriy et al. (2007)

As presented by Yuriy et al. (2007), promising results were obtained from industrial
trial using vibroacoustic technique on ladle furnace. A good correlation between surface
vibration under 200 hertz and gas consumption during purging was verified.

4.2.2 Camera monitoring

Stirring can be monitored from the top of liquid metal with far and near infrared
detection (IR) cameras and with optical cameras. With cameras, the monitored data is
transferred into image analysis and be combined with other process control systems
(vibration measurement, noise). European commission has funded a profound research
ladle stirring improvement. Reports included monitoring liquid metal during stirring and
alloying with IR and optical cameras. (Nadif et al. 2012, Dannert et al. 2012)

IR cameras

IR-cameras were introduced in the 60’s as an application for monitoring thermal

distribution in casting ladle. (Sundstrom 1968) Far IR detectors are used in identification
of slag and steel. From figure 13 can be seen the difference between liquid steel and slag
emissivity.

45
Fig 13. Figure shows the emissivity of liquid steel and liquid slag. The grey scale
presents the far IR detection range in wavelength. Red bar represents the visible
wavelength range and yellow is for Pyroview 640N -a near IR camera detection
range. Modified picture from Nadif et al. (2012)

Far IR detectors don’t give any information of state or temperature of slag. Far IR
cameras are very useful in separating liquid steel and liquid slag ex. g. during steel
tapping. Monitoring can be computer controlled.(Zhang et al. 2014) Figure 14 has IR
images of steel and slag pouring: steel (left) and slag (right).

46
Fig 14. IR images of steel tapping. On the left is liquid steel pouring and on the
right is slag pouring. Modified picture is from TATA Steel (2014)

With near IR detector, the temperature of slag can be estimated and therefore it’s
possible to evaluate the slag state and reactivity. These IR cameras can be used in
detecting ladles hotspots and possible signs of abrasion of the ladle.

Optical cameras

Optical cameras collect data in true colors, mainly variations of yellow-red (liquid steel)
and dark grey-black (slag). Camera data can be convert into grey scale images that
follows a binarisation step. The optical image is transformed into an image, where the
purging intensity is easier to evaluate. Figure 15 shows pictures taken of liquid metal
with optical camera and same pictures after gray scale and binarisation.

47
Fig 15. Images of liquid metal during soft purging and no purging. Upper images
are taken with optical cameras and below are altered images. Modified pictures
from Nadif et al. (2012)

4.2.3 Electromagnetic stirring

Electromagnetic stirring means that the liquid metal is interacting with electromagnetic
fields. Electromagnetic stirring is used in ladle metallurgy to promote the preferred
reactions between liquid metal and slag. In electromagnetic stirring, the internal flow
fields of the liquid metal is measured using Doppler velocimetry. Method has been
tested on liquid metals as sodium, gallium, mercury and also for alloys as Ga-Sn-In
under laboratory conditions and has potential in clean steel production. (Wang et al.
2007, Yan-hua et al. 2010)

4.3 Steel composition and cleanness

Steels physical, chemical and mechanical properties are affected by the impurities and
alloying elements present in the steel matrice. The trend is to improve alloying methods
and to focus on steel cleanness (inclusions). (Shakhpazov & Zaitsev 2000)

48
4.3.1 Deoxidation and desulphurization

Oxygen and sulphur removal is important secondary refining process. Deoxidants

and desulphurization agents are added to ladle via cored wire or through a lance. In
deoxidation process, the deoxidant (Al, Ti) reacts with soluble oxygen and forms oxides
that can be removed from liquid steel with mixing. Low oxygen level is necessary for
successful desulphurization of steel. Calcium addition causes reformation of oxides to
a less harmful form. Calcium compounds are also desulphurization products (CaSi,
CaF2 +CaO).
Amount of sulphur and oxygen in process samples (as well as chemical composition
of steel) can be measured using surface analysis techniques such as spark-OES (optical
emission spectrometry with spark excitation source).

4.3.2 LIBS in steel analysis

Laser induced breakdown spectrometry (LIBS) is used in elemental analysis of steel.

LIBS-system enables direct analysis of liquid, solid and gaseous material. In analysis of
steel melt, analysis is performed using a refractory probe that can be immersed in the
ladle. Probe guides the laser beam and measured radiation. Noll et al. (2001) presented
a prototype of LIBS system for direct analysis of steel melt. According to their studies,
the LIBS analyzer was able to determine up to 20 elements in 60 seconds. The measured
values agreed with the values measured from solid samples for carbon, phosphorus and
sulfur. Steel cleanness analysis is possible with LIBS from solidified sample.
It is possible to measure light element from liquid steel with LIBS system. Peter
et al. (2003) concluded that sulphur, phosphorus, carbon and also nickel and chromium
can be successfully determined quantitatively from liquid steel within seconds.
LIBS system has been tested in composition studies from solidified liquid steel
samples (lollipop samples). In the study of Sturm et al. (2004), LIBS-system was tested
against conventional spark-OES analysis in sample preparation time and composition
analysis for C, P, S, Al, Cr, Cu, Mn and Mo. The study found that the sample preparation
time was shortened remarkably with laser preparation and LIBS analysis. Grinding of
solidified and cooled lollipop samples could be replaced with a single set up system.

49
4.3.3 Potential online methods for inclusion studies

As Zhang & Thomas (2003) reviewed, there are many offline methods to analyze steels
chemical composition, inclusion amount and size distribution. These include surface
analysis techniques as OES/PDA (optical emission spectrometry-pulse discrimination
analysis), scanning electron microscope (SEM) combined with electron probe micro
analyzer (EPMA) in composition analysis and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS).
These techniques demand often time-consuming sample pretreatment as grinding and
dissolution. Because of the increasing interest in inclusions studies and steels cleanliness,
new online methods for steel cleanness are sought.

LiMCA

LiMCA system (Liquid Metal Cleanliness Analyzer) is one of potential techniques in

detecting macro inclusions in liquid steel. Technique uses ESZ (electric sensing zone)
also known as Coulter principle. (Guthrie & Isac 2011, Guthrie & Lee 1992) Figure 16
represents the operating system of LiMCA.

50
Fig 16. LIMCA-system. Particles passing through electric sensing zone (ESZ)
create a change in resistance of liquid metal. A and B are electrodes, I = current,
E = electromotive force, RB = ballast resistance, Vab = potential difference, ∆Vab =
transient voltage pulse. Modified picture from Guthrie & Li (2000).

LiMCA-system has been tested in cleanness studies for liquid metals like aluminum,
Co-Be- and Al-Si alloys. Due to successful studies with molten metals cleanness studies,
LiMCA-system has been tested in inclusion studies of liquid steel. LiMCA-system can
be located in teeming ladle, tundish or in the caster mold for inclusion size distribution
and amount determination. (Sturm et al. 2004)

Ultrasound systems

Ultrasound assisted particle analysis has been applied in rolled steels for larger inclusions
(20-100 µm), (Kananen et al. 2011) but also some experiments has been done with
molten steel. The principle is that, when a sound pressure wave goes through the sample
and hits a particle (inclusion), it either scatters or reflects back. Sound waves initial
and final magnitude are measured and converted into data of steels inclusion content.

51
Ultrasound assisted metal cleanness analysis has been performed on aluminum alloys
and it has potential in steel analysis. (Guthrie & Lee 1992)

OES/PDA technique

Although OES-PDA-analysis is done offline, recently the method has developed so fast
that the results of steels composition is possible to get within minutes from sampling.
OES-PDA is a routine analysis technique in steel plants. The technique has some
limitations when it comes to inclusion studies and it’s not yet in use for sulphide or
nitride containing inclusions. Inclusion size sets another limitation as large amount of
small inclusions cannot be determined, because their signal is suppressed by the signal
of the matrice. (Bengtson et al. 2012)

Fractional gas analysis with LECO combustion analyzer

Fractional gas analysis (FGA) combined with TC-LECO analyzer is a method for
analyzing oxide containing inclusions. FGA method is based on different thermodynamic
stability of oxides and therefore it is possible to separately analyze them from steel
matrice. Method correlates well with compared to image analysis with IA-32 LECO
analyzer and X-ray analysis. The influence of the amount of detrimental oxides on
steel properties can be evaluated and their origin in ladle treatment can be studied.
(Grigorovich & Shibaev 2007)

4.4 Vacuum treatment

Vacuum treatment is used in manufacture of ultralow carbon steels (ULC) and interstitial
free (IF) steel grades. The purpose of vacuum is to remove dissolved gasses from liquid
steel. Vacuum treatment is an everyday practice in manufacture of high quality steels,
with low oxygen, carbon, sulphur, phosphorus and nitrogen content.

4.4.1 Hydrogen measurement

One of the removable gasses is hydrogen. Even low hydrogen amounts in steel causes
cracking. Hydrogen can come from several sources: air, as a contaminant from
refractories and slag forming substances. According to recent studies, hydrogen is

52
detrimental to steels properties and accurate measuring system is essential.
Hydrogen can be measured from liquid steel using HYDRIS probe (Hydrogen
Direct Reading Immersion System), also known as Hydris device, sensor or unit. The
measurement is based on equilibrium of dissolved hydrogen and hydrogen partial
pressure in a system. Hydris devices precision level is good for industrial purposes
and it is widely used in ladle metallurgy. (Kor & Glaws 1998, Paura et al. 2010) The
principal of Hydris device is presented in Figure 17.

Fig 17. The operating system of Hydris measurements. With immersed probe and
the certified gas, the system is set into equilibrium with liquid metal. Thermal con-
ductivity detector. From hydrogens partial pressure in the system and applying
Sieverts law, the hydrogen amount in steel can be determined. Modified picture
from Glitscher (2014).

Accuracy of Hydris device has been tested against other hydrogen measurement
techniques. Results over other hydrogen measurement techniques that use open quench
(mould or pin) in sampling have been promising. (Vergauwens & Hurst 2004) Hydris
device was used in as a reference for computational model in vacuum tank degassing

53
process in dehydrogenation in European commission report. (Nadif et al. 2012)

4.4.2 Nitrogen measurement

Nitrogen is either an important alloying element in steel or impurity depending on the

steel quality manufactured. (Pekuri 1999) As an impurity in IF steel grades, nitrogen
amount can be controlled during vacuum treatment or in converter. In vacuum treatment,
the nitrogen removal is enhanced with controlled argon purging and adding strong
nitride forming alloying element. Removal is affected by the amount of oxygen and
sulphur in liquid steel. Nitrogen removal is still considered to be difficult and nitrogen
can’t be successfully removed with vacuum treatment. (Nadif et al. 2012)
Nitrogen amount in steel can be measured the similar way as hydrogen. Device is
called Nitris. It is an on-line method for determination nitrogen in liquid metal. Principle
is the same as in Hydris-device: A carrier gas mixture system is set and nitrogen is
supplied in the liquid steel via probe. Nitrogen amount in steel can be calculated from
nitrogens partial pressure in the gas system that is measured by thermal conductivity
detector and applying Sieverts law. (Kor & Glaws 1998, Nittetsu Hokkaido Control
Systems 2014)

4.4.3 Oxygen activity in steel melt

Oxygen can be determined with oxygen activity probe. Celox instrument measures steels
temperature and electromotive force. System applies Nernst’s law in oxygen activity
difference measurements between the electrodes and molten steel. Although a study by
Björklund et al. (2007) didn’t find correlation between plant trials and computational
modelling of oxygen activity in steel melt and slags, oxygen probes are known and
widely used in steel and slag oxygen activity measurements. In Figure 18, a Celox
instrument is presented. (Glitscher 2006, Guthrie & Lee 1992)

54
Fig 18. Celox SLAC electrochemical sensor for measuring oxygen activity online.
Modified picture taken from Grigorovich & Shibaev (2007).

4.5 Summary

Demand of cleaner steel with more complex alloying has resulted in development of new
measuring techniques for steel cleanness. New, fast online methods for steel composition
analysis and inclusion determination for refining metallurgy are under development. The
trend is to develop instruments and systems for steel melt, so the proper alterations of the
process can be done during the ladle treatments. Presented techniques for measuring and
monitoring systems for ladle treatments and steal cleanness are summarized in table 3.

55
Table 3. Summary of measuring and monitoring devices in ladle metallurgy and
steel cleanness.

Measurement and monitoring system Application in ladle metallurgy

Vibration Measures gas consumption, purging and

Infrared and optical cameras
Doppler velocimetry
Steel cleanness
Steel composition
Inclusion analysis (for liquid steel)
Degassing (vacuum treatment)
mixing efficiency
Temperature observation of steel and slag
Purging intensity monitoring
Electromagnetic stirring intensity
Technique
LIBS (applied to both liquid and solid steel)
OES-PDA (applied both composition and
inclusion analysis, only for solid samples)
OES with spark excitation source is a routine
method for steel composition determination.
Ultrasound and LiMCA for detecting
macroinclusions.
FGA for detecting oxide containing
inclusions from a steel sample (solid sample),
method is used with TC-LECO analyzer.
Hydris for hydrogen in steel melt.
Nitris for nitrogen in steel melt.
Celox for oxygen in steel melt.

56
5 Electric Arc Furnace, EAF
Matti Aula
Research Group of Process Metallurgy, University of Oulu

5.1 Introduction

5.1.1 Electric arc furnace (EAF) process

Electric arc furnace (EAF) is a metallurgical vessel, where material is heated mainly
with electrical energy. EAF is commonly used in steelmaking to recycle steel scrap by
melting it for further processing.
EAF consists of furnace mantle, refractory lining, off-gas duct, electrodes and
electrode arm. The energy is supplied to the electrodes from the EAF transformer
usually located besides the furnace. Schematic picture of EAF is presented in Figure 19.

Fig 19. Schematic picture of EAF Metallinjalostajat ry (2009)

This study is focused on measurements of AC-arc furnaces. AC furnace differs from

DC furnace in current supply and in distribution of current inside the furnace. AC arc
furnaces typically run on three-phase electrical power, while DC furnaces are supplied
with direct current. In AC furnaces the current flows between the electrodes lowered
from the furnace roof while in DC furnaces the current flows from electrode on top
of the melt to the electrode on the bottom of the furnace. Few modern EAFs work in

57
DC-mode due to developments in AC furnace technology. (Toulevski & Zinurov 2010)
Still, many of the measurements presented in this study are relevant also in DC furnaces.
The scrap melting in EAF can be divided to six phases. In the first phase the arc is
initiated on the top of the scrap charge. In the second phase the electrodes are bored into
the scrap charge. When the electrodes are boring into the scrap, liquid metal layer is
formed on the bottom of the furnace. In the fourth phase called the main melting phase,
the arc is operated with maximum power to melt the scrap. After the scrap is molten in
the furnace hot-spots, the arc power is lowered and the remaining scrap in the cold-spots
is melted. In the last phase the metal is heated to tapping temperature. (Jones et al. 1997)
In modern EAFs part of the energy required to melt the scrap is supplied as a
chemical energy to reduce the electricity consumption and to decrease tap-to-tap time.
The chemical energy is introduced with natural gas burners or by burning the dissolved
carbon in metal with oxygen. Burners are used to heat scrap in cold-spots during the
first melting phases. Oxygen blowing is started in late stages of processing to ensure it
reaches metal bath. (Toulevski & Zinurov 2010)
Efficient use of electrical and chemical energy requires information on changing
process conditions. Especially important in process end-point determination and
optimization input of chemical energy are the carbon content and temperature of the
metal. (Toulevski & Zinurov 2010) In stainless steelmaking another important parameter
is slag chromium content. Determining the right amount of deoxidants is essential to
reduce the chromium content of the slag to level. (Risonarta et al. 2010)

5.1.2 EAF measurements and control

Due to modern innovations in EAF steelmaking, controlling the melting process has
become much more challenging. Shorter duration of heat as well as deterioration of
scrap quality causes high operational fluctuations, which have to be addressed in a
shorter time window. EAF automation and measurement systems have not been able to
answer this call, but have fallen behind these requirements. (Toulevski & Zinurov 2010)
The reason for the lack of dynamic control in EAF is the lack of available sensors,
which survive EAF environment. (Toulevski & Zinurov 2010) Measurement systems
installed directly into the EAF mantle have to withstand strong magnetic forces as well
as high thermal load of radiation, liquid splashes and flames.
New methods have been recently developed to meet the new requirements for EAF
process. Especially control of auxiliary processes, for example oxygen and carbon

58
blowing, has developed fast. In situ on-line EAF process control is still lagging behind,
but new methods related to laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) and optical
emissions spectrometry are being developed to fill this need for on-line data.

5.2 Direct EAF measurements

Despite the challenges, some methods to gain direct information on process conditions
in EAF have been developed. The direct measurements can be divided to contact and
remote measurements depending on the placement of measurement sensor.

5.2.1 Contact measurements

Common for contact measurements is the direct contact between the sensor and the
measured phase, usually steel or slag. That contact measurements usually focus on
analyzing steel and slag temperature and composition. The most common way to
measure these properties is to insert a temperature or sampling probe to steel or slag
through the slag door. This can be conducted by a manual or robotic probe system.
Recently the robotic systems are becoming more and more popular due to consciousness
of work safety problems related to manual probing. (Huck 2012) An example of a robot
used for temperature measurements through the slag door is presented in Figure 20.

Fig 20. SIMETAL LiquiRob (Huck 2012)

With the new automatic probing systems it is possible to analyze the steel tempera-
ture as well as carbon content. (Eaddy & Moody 2002) More detailed steel or slag
composition analysis still requires the sample to be analyzed remotely, which causes

59
delay in composition data acquisitioning.
New methods have been recently proposed to eliminate the delay in steel composition
analysis. Common for these measurements is that they are still somewhat far from
commercial applications due to unresolved technical challenges. One of the most
ambitious new measurements has been direct slag composition analysis with LIBS-
method. (Senk et al. 2007) This method relies on inserting LIBS-probe into the melt.
Another type of direct composition measurement is electrochemical analysis of slag
FeO content (Glitscher & Maes 2004). Extreme case of contact measurement is the
analysis of steel temperature with pyrometer by immersing the optical fiber to analyzed
melt. (Lamp et al. 2005)

5.2.2 Remote measurements

Traditionally remote measurements on EAFs have relied on visual and auditory observa-
tions of furnace operators. These observations are successfully used in EAF control. For
example the melting rate of the scrap can be significantly improved when oxygen lance
in the slag door is aimed to the parts of the furnace with highest amount of unmolten
scrap. (Toulevski & Zinurov 2010) Also, even until these days the most popular way to
control slag foaming has been auditory measurement. The foaming of the slag can be
clearly distinguished from relative low arc noise even in the operator room.

Direct camera measurements

Many of the modern EAF measurement methods still rely on the same phenomena, in a
sense that they measure quantities related to the light and noise. New information on
scrap melting and burner efficiency has been acquired by simple endoscope camera
measurements. The effect of the furnace dusts and flames could be reduced by use of
high wavelength (3, 9µm detector. (Mathy et al. 2012) Although it provides very useful
information, it suffers from severe maintenance issues caused by endoscope clogging.
(Millman et al. 2008)

Optical emission spectrum measurement

The light emitted from the furnace contains information hidden from the simple visual
observation. This embedded information can be utilized by analyzing the wavelength

60
relation of the intensity with optical emission spectrometry. This method provides
information on excitation conditions i. e. exothermic chemical reactions as well as
information on scrap melting and slag foaming. (Aula et al. 2014) Summary of different
spectrum types is illustrated in Figure 21.

Fig 21. Type of spectrum observed in EAF (1) Dark current (2) Thermal radiation
(3) Alkali peaks (4) Atomic emissions (Aula et al. 2014)

This method has the distinct advantage compared to the other remote measurements
that it requires minimal equipment on the furnace roof. The optical emission can be
gathered with just optic fiber and no lenses are required. (Aula et al. 2014) The develop-
ment of this method has started very recently and the first commercial applications are
yet to appear.

Remote temperature measurement

Remote temperature measurement relies on passive measurement of infrared radiation

emitted from the bath. The intensity signal of a single or multiple wavelength bands are
used to analyse the temperature of the steel and slag. The common method to analyse
temperature without information on surface emissivity is to measure intensities of a two
narrow bandwidths. (Muller & Rentz 2001)
The limitation of the technique is that it only enables temperature analysis of the
surface emitting the thermal radiation. To gain information on the steel temperature in
the EAF, the slag layer has to be pushed aside with inert gas. This is possible only with
the slag door manipulator or burners. This type of temperature measurement is very
sensitive to the whole measuring cone being free of the slag. One of the first commercial

61
Fig 22. i Temp System
R (Masoero et al. 2012)
applications of this method is presented in Figure 22. (Masoero et al. 2012)

Acoustic measurements

Lately attempts to modernize the process practice of operator monitoring the slag
foaming with noise have been made. The noise of the arc has been analyzed with
airborne acoustic emissions. The system enables monitoring of slag foaming and
scrap melting, which can be analyzed from the acoustic attenuation of unmolten scrap
and foaming slag (Matschullat et al. 2012). The schematic picture of this method is
presented in Figure 23. Only recently has this method gained popularity in dynamic
control of oxygen and carbon blowing. (Jansen et al. 2012)

Fig 23. Slag foaming detection with airborne acoustic emission. (Jansen et al.
2012)

62
Radiation measurements

Radiation detection system is a remote measurement system compulsory in every EAF

in developed countries. It is employed to find indication of the occasional radioactive
contamination of the EAF charge. Radiation detectors are also employed in scrap
yards, but they fail to find sealed radiation sources among the scrap. For example in
Outokumpu Stainless Oy Tornio Works, three occurrences of radioactive charge material
were observed in year 2009. (Weltner 2010) In all three cases at Tornio EAF in 2009 the
radioactive element was americium, which was used in some old fire alarms.

5.3 Indirect measurements

Indirect measurements are used to gain information on parameters related to the EAF
process. These methods measure quantities related to the auxiliary equipment of EAF
furnace, for example transformer electrical parameters and off-gas composition. The
advantage of indirect measurements is that they can be conducted in less hazardous
environments. On the other hand the information they provide on EAF process is limited
and can be influenced by multiple different process factors.

5.3.1 Furnace mantel cooling water temperature

Measurement of furnace mantel cooling water exit temperature is a method used for
analysing the wear of furnace lining. Abnormally high cooling water temperatures
indicate that the furnace lining is being exposed to a high thermal load. The high
thermal load can be a result of burner flame being diverted to lining by large scrap pieces
(Millman et al. 2008) or problems related to cooling water feed. The cooling water
temperature measurement is widely adopted in industry since it reduces the amount of
accidents and makes the job of the furnace operator easier. (Toulevski & Zinurov 2010)

5.3.2 Off-gas analysis

Among the most promising new developments in EAF process control are the new
reliable methods to analyze off-gas composition and heat loss. Recently new methods to
analyze off-gas composition have been developed (Kuhn et al. 2005, Iacuzzi 2012)
By measuring the off-gas H2 , O2 , CO and CO2 contents, it is possible to analyze the

63
decarburization reactions inside the furnace. These reactions are especially important
when controlling oxygen and carbon blowing. High amount of CO and H2 in off-gas
indicates energy efficiency since oxidation of these elements provides chemical energy
to the EAF. This can be prevented by increasing the oxygen blowing. (Goodfellow et al.
2005) A system operating with same principle has also been proposed to be used in
stainless steelmaking to analyze the slag chromium content. (Risonarta et al. 2010)
The dynamic control of carbon and oxygen blowing requires continuous information
on off-gas composition. This can be achieved by laser-based off-gas analysis systems
while traditional mass spectrometry based systems suffer from dead time of 30 to 50
s. (Kuhn et al. 2005, Wu et al. 2005) Off-gas analysis system based on laser-diode is
presented in Figure 24.

Fig 24. LINDARCT M equipment. (Iacuzzi 2012)

The downside in off-gas analysis is that the off-gas composition is related to other
phenomena besides oxygen and carbon blowing, which make the interpretation of
off-gas composition hard. The carbon monoxide content of the off-gas is strictly related
to the rate of carbon monoxide bubbles exiting the slag. This rate is usually periodic
since it is related to the non-uniformity of oxygen absorption to the steel in oxygen
blowing. (Toulevski & Zinurov 2010)

5.3.3 Measurements of electrical parameters

Electric parameters have been commonly used in electrode position control. The AC-arc
is being controlled so that the average voltage or current of the arc is stable. This

64
automatic control system of the arc length is especially important in boredown period,
when the occasional collapsing of scrap can cause a short circuit. (Grygorov et al. 2012)
The common practice to control electrodes relies on proportional controllers, while also
more sophisticated neural network based control systems have been proposed. (Lin &
Mao 2012)
Another popular measurement method has been measurement of electrical parameters
of the EAF transformers in order to reduce the voltage flicker. The voltage flicker is
a type of voltage fluctuation associated with the effect on lighting. Voltage flicker is
caused by arc instabilities; these are especially high when the electrodes are bored
through the scrap. (Mendis et al. 1996)
The main problem in voltage flicker is that it causes voltage fluctuations in all
other systems connected to the furnace power supply. Large fluctuations in operating
voltage are unacceptable in many delicate instruments. The flicker can be reduced
by compensating the reactive power with static VAR compensator (SVC) or static
synchronous compensator (STATCOM). (Yazdani et al. 2009)

5.4 Summary

Numerous methods to measure EAF process conditions have been proposed. Only rare
few of these measurements have become popular in industrial EAFs. The first successful
measurement EAF systems have been in-direct measurements to control EAF auxiliary
equipment, for example electric arc voltage measurements for electrode position control
(Grygorov et al. 2012). In recent years the most important developments have been
off-gas composition and heat loss analysis for optimization of carbon and oxygen
injection (Kuhn et al. 2005, Goodfellow et al. 2005). New promising methods of direct
EAF measurements based on LIBS (Senk et al. 2007), optical emission spectrum (Aula
et al. 2014) and pyrometers (Huck 2012) have also appeared. These new measurements
are needed to meet the requirements of increasingly dynamic modern EAF processing.
Different EAF measurement methods are summarized in Table 4.

65
Table 4. EAF measurement method and their main applications.
Measurement method
Manual probing
Robotic probing
Electrochemical sensor
LIBS
Optical or IR camera
Optical emission spectrum
measurement
Pyrometer measurement
Acoustic measurements
Furnace mantel cooling water
temperature
Off-gas analysis
Measurement of electrical
parameters
66
Main applications
Steel and slag composition, steel temperature
Steel and slag composition, steel temperature
Slag FeO content
Detection of steel and slag phases
Image of furnace interior
gas-phase reactions, slag surface conditions,
scrap melting
Temperature of steel and slag
Slag foaming, scrap melting
Cooling panel failures, other problems
related to cooling water
Off-gas composition, off-gas temperature,
control of oxygen blowing
Electrode movement control, voltage flicker
control
6 Basic Oxygen Furnace, BOF
Ville-Valtteri Visuri
Laboratory of Process Metallurgy, University of Oulu

6.1 Introduction

Basic Oxygen Furnace (BOF) is a primary metallurgy process, in which carbon steel is
produced from high-carbon pig iron by oxygen blowing. Other main purposes are the
dephosporisation and heating of steel. (Miller et al. 1998)
The name of the process stems from two properties: basic refractory lining and
oxygen blowing. The theoretical principles of the process were derived already in the
1940s. The first successful test with a BOF converter was conducted in 1948, while
the first vessels were put into operation in Austria at VÖEST in Linz and at ÖAMG
in Donawitz in 1952–1953. Hence the process is also known as Linz-Donawitz (LD)
process. (Deo & Boom 1993)
The oxygen required for decarburizing the melt is delivered via a water-cooled top
lance. The lances are typically fitted with a multi-hole de Laval nozzle for producing
a supersonic gas jet (Odenthal et al. 2006). Although the BOF was originally a top-
blowing process, also bottom- and combined-blowing variants have also been introduced
(Odenthal et al. 2006). One example of a bottom-blown converter type is the OBM
converter, which is an abbreviation of Oxygen-Bottom Maxhütte (Odenthal et al. 2006).
Deo & Boom (1993) have divided the combined-blowing processes into following
categories:

1. Top-blown oxygen and inert stirring from the bottom

2. Top-blown oxygen plus inert and oxidising gasses from the bottom
3. Combined oxygen top- and bottom-blowing
4. Fired blowing processes, in which the scrap is first melted

An example of the first category is the Linz-Donawitz Kawasaki Gas (LD-KG) process,
in which oxygen is blown from the top lance, while stirring gases are delivered from the
bottom nozzle plate (Figure 25). In Finland, three converters of this type are currently in
operation at Ruukki Metals Raahe Steel Works.

67
Fig 25. Illustration of a combined-blowing converter (Metallinjalostajat ry 2009).

The oxidation of iron its impurities (carbon, silicon, manganese and phosphorous)
generate the heat necessary for the process and therefore the basic oxygen furnace uses
no additional fuel (Deo & Boom 1993). In the oxygen jet impinging area, known as the
hot spot, temperatures are typically in the range of 2300 to 2700 K (Lee & Kolbeinsen
2007).
Oxidation of the molten metal and the slag is complicated process proceeding in
several stages and occurring simultaneously on the boundaries between different phases
(gas-metal, gas-slag, slag-metal). Most metallic oxides are absorbed by the top slag,
while gaseous products CO and CO2 are transferred to the atmosphere and removed by
the exhausting system. The main reactions are given in Eqs. 1–7. (Deo & Boom 1993)

1
O2 (g) = O (1)
2
1
Fe + O2 (g) = (FeO) (2)
2
Si + O2 (g) = (SiO2 ) (3)
1
Mn + O2 (g) = (MnO) (4)
2
5
2P + O2 (g) = (P2 O5 ) (5)
2
1
C + O2 (g) = CO(g) (6)
2
1
CO(g) + O2 (g) = CO2 (g) (7)
2

68
 Basic Oxygen Process has only a limited ability for desulfurization. The most
popular method of desulfurization is removal of sulfur from molten steel to the basic
reducing slag. However, the slag formed in the Basic Oxygen Furnace is oxidizing and
therefore the maximum value of distribution coefficient of sulfur in the process is only
about 10. This value can be achieved with the slags containing high concentrations of
CaO. (Deo & Boom 1993)

6.2 Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy

Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) is a atomic emission spectroscopy

method, in which a high intensity pulsed laser beam is used to produce laser-induced
spark on the sample surface and generates plasma. The elemental composition of the
sample can then identified and quantified from the plasma, where the components of the
sample appear as atoms and ions. (Singh & Thakur 2007, Anabitarte et al. 2012)
A schematical illustration of a typical LIBS system is given in Figure 26. The main
device is the high-energy pulsed laser, which vaporizes the sample and induces the
plasma. The most important parameters of the laser are pulse time, energy per pulse,
wavelenght and the number of pulses per burst. The most common type of laser is
pulsed ND:YAG. (Anabitarte et al. 2012)

Fig 26. Typical LIBS measurement system (Anabitarte et al. 2012).

In order to obtain a spectral signature, the collected light is diffracted in a spectrome-

ter. Many different designs are available, e.g. Littrow, Paschen-Runge, Echelle and
Czerny-Turner. The most common type is the Czerny-Turner, although Echelle has

69
become increasingly common in the recent years. (Anabitarte et al. 2012)
Thereafter, the light from the spectrometer is detected using a photomultiplier
tube (PMT), a photodiode array (PDA) or a charge-coupled device (CCD). For two
dimensional spatial information the most common devices are CCDs and intensified
CDDs (ICCD). Fiber optic cables or bundles can be employed if the environment is
very harsh or there is a restriction of access so that the sample is far away from the
measurement system. (Anabitarte et al. 2012)
Finally, the acquired spectrum needs to be processed with a computer. Different
classification algorithms have been created for determining the composition of the
sample from the spectral data. However, the spectral data contains a vast amount
redundant information, which can decrease the accuracy of the analysis. There are two
categories of algoritms that discard redundant information: 1) those that select the most
discriminating features and 2) those that extract features. (Anabitarte et al. 2012)
The main advantages of LIBS in industrial use are the preparation of the measured
objects by the laser beam itself, ability to measure a broad range of analytes in all
states of aggregation, measuring distance up to several meters and high measuring
frequenzy, which enables online use (Noll et al. 2014). The analytical performance
of LIBS measurements conducted in an industrial environment is not as good as the
accuracy of XRF and SD-OES analyses conducted at laboratory environment, but with
laboratory conditions and sample preparation the accuracy of the LIBS analysis is on a
comparable level (Noll et al. 2014).
Pilz (2012) has shown that LIBS can be employed for direct analysis of liquid slag
in the BOF. Duration of the measurements is lower than two minutes. An automatically
operating LIBS system has been developed by Fraunhofer ILT and voestalpine. This
system has been installed on an actual converter, but analytical results have not yet been
published. (Noll et al. 2014)

6.3 Microwave radar

Microwave radar can be employed for determining the level of slag emulsion as well as
nominal steel level during blowing (Malmberg et al. 2007, Ruuska 2012). Steel and slag
phases are distinguished based on their conductivity, which is higher for the steel than
the slag (Ruuska 2012). The advantages of microwave systems include low investment
and maintenance costs, ease of installation and continuous measurement (Ruuska 2012).
In principle, microware measurements are well-suited for the industrial environment of a

70
melt shop due to their low sensitivity to temperature, pressure and dust (Ruuska 2012).
However, the measurement system can be blinded by skulling in front of the intrument,
thus rendering it incapable of continuing the measurements before the skull is removed
(Malmberg et al. 2007).

6.3.1 Radio Wave Interferometry

Radio Wave Interferometry (RWI) can be employed for detecting surface positions and
layer thicknesses. The RWI method is based on electromagnetic waves that penetrate
media changing its aplitude, phase and polarisation in a way that is specific to the content
and structure of the media (Bååth 2003). A three dimensional map of the surfaces can be
obtained by combining three of four RWI units (Ruuska 2012). Bååth (2003) conducted
RWI measurements on slag depth and found that the accuracy was at least as good as
that of the manual measurements.
The main drawback of RWI is that it needs line of sight into the vessel and therefore
the measurement unit must placed above the vessel pendicular to the bath surface, for
example in the hood stucture. Therefore, the method is sentitive to skulling, which
can block line of sight and make the probe dirty causing unrealiable measurements.
Gas curtains and different hood access port designs have been tried for countering this
problem, but with only partial success. (Ruuska 2012)

6.3.2 Acoustic measurements

Acoustic measurements have been applied for measuring the amount of dry and liquid
slag, amount of oxygen accumulated in the slag and foam level (Miller et al. 1998,
Ruuska 2012). It has been found that decreasing lance height and decreasing off-gas
temperature decrease the noise recorded by the acoustic measurement (Ruuska 2012).
Birk et al. (2003) showed that acoustic measurements can be used to determine the
foam level in a water model of a BOF vessel. The foam level be calculated from the
short time sound spectra according to

ln (I0 (ω)) − ln (I (h (t) , ω))

ĥ (t, ω) = (8)
β̂F (ω)
where I0 (ω) is the magnitude of the sound spectra without foam, I(h(t), ω) is the
magnitude of the sound spectra at different foam levels and β̂F (ω) is the attenuation

71
coefficient (Birk et al. 2003).

6.3.3 Light sensors

Few steel mills have employed light sensors for dynamic estimation of carbon levels
based on the light emitted from the mouth of the BOF vessel. The characteristics of the
light intensity are correlated with the light intensity curve. The continuous measurement
allows dynamic adjustment of the oxygen blow in order to achieve high carbon accuracy.
The system has been employed quite successfully for estimating the carbon levels in low
carbon heats, where the target carbon content is ≤0.06 wt-%. (Miller et al. 1998)

6.4 Infrared temperature measurement

Zhang et al. (2014) proposed an infrared temperature measurement system, which

distinguishes metal and slag phases in the metal pouring stream based on their infrared
emissivities. The structure of the system is shown in Figure 27. The water- and
air-cooled thermal camera transmits the real-time tempeature signal to the computer,
which processes the data, calculates the amount of slag in the pouring stream and alarms
if the slag content is higher than the predetermined limit.

Fig 27. Schematic illustration of the slag detection system (Zhang et al. 2014).

72
6.5 Sensor lances

Sensor lances are water-cooled lances that can be used to obtain for measurement of
temperature and carbon content of the metal. Typically, the lances are lowered into the
metal bath few minutes before the end of the oxygen blow. The main drawbacks of the
sensor lances are the relatively high capital costs and maintenance problems. (Miller
et al. 1998)

6.6 Drop-in thermocouples

Drop-in thermocouples enable temperature measurement of the metal bath without

turning down the vessel. The thermocouple is located inside a metal casing and is
attached to a sheathed wire for conveying an emf reading. The accuracy of the drop-in
thermocouples is comparable to immersion thermocouples. The costs associated with
the use of drop-in thermocouples are between $0.05 to $0.10 per ton of steel. (Miller
et al. 1998)

6.7 Off-gas measurements

The BOF off-gas, which contains 60–80 vol-% CO and 5–20 vol-% CO2 , is characterized
by high temperature (1700–1900 K), high gas volume (60–80 Nm3 /t crude steel) and
high amount of pure iron and iron-oxide dust particles (15–20 kg/t crude steel) in the
micrometer size range (Sandlöbes et al. 2011).
Off-gas measurements are the main measurements used for online controlling the
BOF process. The control rate of automation systems that are based on extractive
off-gas measurements, such as mass spectrometer, is limited by the delay of the
extractive measuring systems. The delay, which is at least 15 to 20 seconds, is caused
by the duration of the gas sampling, sample treatment and analysis. In order to
increase the control rate, in-situ measurements for determining the off-gas CO and CO2
concentrations have been studied since the 1990’s. (Sandlöbes et al. 2011)
Rego-Barcena et al. (2009) employed Midinfrared Emission Spectroscopy for
analysing the off-gas. The system provides the user with profiles of off-gas temperature
and particle emissivity every two seconds.
Sandlöbes et al. (2011) proposed a Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR)
based system for measurement of temperature as well as CO and CO2 concentrations in

73
the off-gas. The theoretical principles of the system have explained exhaustively in the
literature (Clausen 1996, Bak & Clausen 2002, Clausen & Bak 2002). The measurement
system consists of a FTIR spectrometer, a blackbody radiator and a computer as shown
in Figure 28. The delay time of the system is approximately 1 second and thus the
system can be applied to online use. (Sandlöbes et al. 2011).

Fig 28. Schematic illustration of the FTIR measurement system (Sandlöbes et al.
2011).

The accuracy of off-gas based carbon content prediction is effected strongly by

measurement noise in the off-gas measurements. Gonzalez & Barron (2002) adressed
this problem by proposing an integral estimator with noise attenuation. It was found
that classical filtering techniques, such as Fast Fourier Transformation, do not produce
satisfactory results.

6.8 Measurement of refractory lining wear

The goal of the refractory practice is to maximise refractory lining life and thus the
availability of the furnace while minimising the associated refractory material costs. The
availability of the furnace can have a significant effect on the productivity of the melt
shop. Refractory materials used in the BOF process range from pitch-bonded magnesia
or dolomitic types to the advanced refractory materials, which are made with redin
bonds, metallics, graphites and sintered and/or fused magnesia. In order to have stable
operation and to avoid unscheduled production delays in the melt shop, the consistency

74
and predictability of lining life are of great importance. (Hubble et al. 1998)
Laser measurements are the most common method for determining the refractory
lining thickness (see Figure 29). The measurement data from the thickness measurements
can be used to predict the wear rate of the lining on a daily basis. The daily measurements
should include the tap pad, the bottom and the trunnions. (Hubble et al. 1998)

Fig 29. Laser measurements of refractory lining wear (Hubble et al. 1998).

Eriksson et al. (2013) studied the accuracy of laser measurements by measuring

three areas, each of which had 18 measurement points. The standard deviation of the
measurements was 3.68 mm and thus 99.7% (3 σ ) of the measurements should be
within ± 11 mm assuming a normal distribution. For this reason, lining wear cannot be
measured accurately in short term follow ups.

6.9 Measurement methods in water modelling

Because measurement of fluid flows in an actual converter is very difficult, water models
have been used widely for this purpose. Four different states of similarity need to
be considered in the design of a physical model: geometrical similarity, mechanical
similarity, thermal similarity and chemical similarity (Mazumdar & Evans 2009). This

75
section presents of some measurement methods employed in water modelling.

6.9.1 Electrical conductivity method

Electrical conductivity method is a common method for determining mixing times in

BOF water models. In these models NaCl solutions have been commonly employed as
tracer (Luomala et al. 2004, Lai et al. 2008, Zhou et al. 2014).
Luomala et al. (2004) employed a 4-electrode conductivity technique for studying
the mixing time in 1:7 water model. In this study, tracer was injected below the surface
of the bath, after which the conductivity was measured by a conductivity sensor lolated
opposite to the tracer injection point (see Figure 30). Lai et al. (2008) and Zhou et al.
(2014) and conducted their mixing time measurements with three conductivity meters.

Fig 30. Schematic illustration of the electrical conductivity measurement system

employed by Luomala et al. (2004).

Chen et al. (2013) found that the amount of tracer has an effect on the mixing time
measurement and that the error of mixing time measurement results mainly from the
fluctuation of tracer concentration beyond the criterion range, when a much smaller
amount of tracer is injected. Therefore, it was suggested that the tracer selection should
be considered combined with the mixing criterion (Chen et al. 2013).

76
6.9.2 Particle Image Velocimetry

Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) is an optical method that can be used to visualise fluid
flows and to obtain velocities in water modelling. PIV can be employed for producing
two- or three-dimensional vector fields. A typical PIV measurement system consists of a
laser, CCD1 camera and light sheet optic. An example of a three-dimensional system
with two CCD cameras is shown in Figure 31. (Wuppermann et al. 2012)

Fig 31. Schematic illustration of a PIV measurement system for an AOD water
model (Wuppermann et al. 2012).

6.9.3 Splashing measurement

Luomala et al. (2002) and Fabritius et al. (2002) employed a 1:9 scaled physical model
to study splashing in the BOF process. In this study, the vessel walls featured sampling
points at four levels, each of which had 15 sampling points and therefore the total
amount of sampling points was 60 (see Figure 32). The angle between the sampling
points was 24 degrees.

1 Charge-Coupled Device

77
Fig 32. Schematic illustration the apparatus employed by (Fabritius et al. 2002).

6.10 Summary

This chapter presented a brief description of the various new measument methods that
have been presented for the BOF process. Table 5 presents a summary of these methods
and their applications.

Table 5. Summary of measurement methods in the BOF process.

Measurement method Main applications listed in the literature

Acoustic measurements
Drop-in thermocouples
Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy
Infrared measurements
Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy
Laser measurements
Light sensors
Microwave radar
Midinfrared emission specroscopy
Radio Wave Interferometry
Sensor lances
Amount of slag and foam level
Temperature of steel
Off-gas temperature and composition
Detection of steel and slag phases
Composition analysis of steel an slag
Refractory lining wear
Carbon level in the steel
Level of slag emulsion
Off-gas temperature
Slag surface position and thickness
Temperature and carbon content of steel

78
 Some of the discussed methods, such as drop-in thermocouples, are already in
wide-spread use, while some methods have been employed only in test campaigns. One
of the most interesting methods in the latter category is the LIBS technology, which
enables online composition measurements and could thus potentially provide a dramatic
increase in measurement data from the BOF vessel.

79
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