Scrap charge process

FIGURE 13.32 Application of plume photo nphlc scaling technique ro electric furnace scrap-charging process. 

Dust emissions are comparable to EAF furnaces dusts, both in quantity and quality. AOD dust emissions have lower levels of residuals (organic) from the scrap charge, but on the other hand have a higher level of metal oxide (Cr, Ni), as it is mainly stainless steel which is processed in... 

The electric arc furnace process accounted for about 25% of the 1982 U.S. steelmaking capacity (14). Most of the raw material used for the process is steel scrap. Pollutants generated by the electric furnace process are primarily particulate matter and CO. The furnaces are hooded, and the gas stream containing the particulate matter is collected, cooled, and passed to a bag-house for cleaning. Venturi scrubbers and ESPs are used as control devices at some mills. Charging and tapping emissions are also collected by hoods and ducted to the particulate matter control device. 

The secondary production of lead begins with the recovery of old scrap from worn-out, damaged, or obsolete products and with new scrap. The chief source of old scrap is lead-acid batteries other sources include cable coverings, pipe, sheet, and other lead-bearing metals. Solder, a tin-based alloy, may be recovered from the processing of circuit boards for use as lead charge. 

In the secondary production of aluminum, scrap is usually melted in gas- or oil-fired reverberatory furnaces of 14,000 to over 45,000 kg capacities. The furnaces have one or two charging wells separated from the main bath by a refractory wall that permits only molten metal into the main bath. The principal processing of aluminum-base scrap involves the removal of magnesium by treating the molten bath with chlorine or with various fluxes such as aluminum chloride, aluminum fluoride,... 

Other markets for char include iron, steel, and sili-con/ferro-silicon industries. Char can be used as a reducing agent in direct reduction of iron. Ferro-silicon and metallurgical-grade silicon metal are produced carbothermally in electric furnaces. Silica is mixed with coke, either iron ore or scrap steel (in the case of ferro-silicon), and sawdust or charcoal in order to form a charge. The charge is then processed by the furnace to create the desired product. Char can be substituted for the coke as a source of reducing carbon for this process. Some plants in Norway are known to have used coal-char in the production of silicon-based metal products as late as mid-1990.5 The use of char in this industry is not practiced due to lack of char supply. 

A large fraction of the iron and steel produced today is recycled scrap. Since scrap does not require reduction, it can be melted down directly in an electric arc furnace, in which the charge is heated through its own electrical resistance to arcs struck from graphite electrodes above it. The main problem with this process is the presence of tramps (i.e., copper from electrical wiring, chromium, nickel, and various other metals) that accompany scrap steel such as crushed automobile bodies and that lead to brittleness in the product. Tin in combination with sulfur is the most troublesome tramp. Only the highest quality recycled steel—specifically, steel with no more than 0.13% tramps—can be used for new automobile bodies, and usually reprocessed scrap has to be mixed with new steel to meet these requirements. 

Historical Open-Hearth Process. For well over a century prior to the I96t)s. ihe open-licarlh process was die principal means for making sieel. As of tlte late If 80s. open-hearth steels had dropped from well over 90% of lolal steel production to less than 10% of steel produclion. The attraction of the basic open-hearth system over many decades was versatility in handling a variety of raw materials required for most grades of steel. Raw material charges could he 100% scrap. 100% hot metal, or scrap and hot metal in all intermediate ratios. 

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