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Productivity enhanced by straight blows during BOF steelmaking

Article  in  Steel Times International · August 2015

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2 authors:

Nand Kishore Jha Somnath Kumar

The Indian Institute Of Metals Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL)
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 OXYGEN STEELMAKING 27

Productivity enhanced by straight

blows during BOF steelmaking
While conventional BOF blowing practice requires waiting for sample results prior to tapping to see if a
re-blow is necessary, a modified single (straight) blowing practice has been implemented in Steelshop
II at SAIL Bokaro in which the quantities of oxygen and flux needed are pre-determined using a static
model which has resulted in a 25% increase in productivity by eliminating four stages of activities in the
steelmaking cycle. By N K Jha* and Somnath Kumar**

THE majority of integrated steel plants

across the globe follow the blast furnace
– oxygen converter (BF-BOF) route of
steelmaking. Blast furnace productivity
is largely dictated by the quality of raw
materials charged coupled with process
control. Steel companies continually Blast furnace Mixer Scrap charging Hot metal Oxygen blowing
endeavour to achieve higher levels of charging

BF throughput. Contrary to this BOF

productivity depends largely on the design
of the steel shop (including logistics) and
steel grades produced rather than input
quality.
Ladle furnace Tapping
Consequently, over a period of time
there has been substantial improvement
in BF productivity, but BOF productivity
has increased only marginally creating
a mismatch in capacities between the
Fig 1: Process route of
BF and BOF. Steelmakers everywhere are Slabs
steelmaking at SMS-II, BSL,
thus confronted with the problem of
Bokaro
finding other means of improving BOF Continuous casting
productivity.
Employing ‘Straight Blowing’ –

*Ex-CEO, IISCO Steel Plant, Burnpur, Steel Authority of India Ltd. **R & D Centre for Iron & Steel, SAIL, Ranchi, India
e-mail nkjha0509@gmail.com (corresponding Author)

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 28 OXYGEN STEELMAKING

– main blow – sampling – corrective blow

Event Minutes Comments
(if required) – tapping – de-slagging
Charging scrap and hot metal 5-10 Scrap at ambient temperature, hot metal at ~1300°C followed by the start of a new charge to
Refining–blowing oxygen 14-23 Oxygen reacts with elements, Si, C, Fe, Mn, P in scrap and hot metal and flux repeat the process.
additions to form a slag Table 1 summarises the main events
Sampling–chemical testing 4-15 Steel at 1650°C, chemistry and temperature analysis during BOF steelmaking and the
Tapping 4-8 Steel is poured from furnace into a ladle time taken by each. These times vary
Pouring slag off from BOF 3-9 Most slag is removed from furnace, in some shops slag is used to coat considerably depending on the chemistry
furnace walls
and temperature of the input materials,
the vessel configuration and the chemistry
Table 1: BOF steelmaking event times1
and temperature of the steel to be made.
Major sub- processes of steelmaking are
Sequence No Process involved
depicted in Table 2 for conventional BOF
1 Receipt of hot metal from BF
practice.
2 Hot metal desulphurization at external desulphurization station
The time taken in completing this
3 Transfer of hot metal into hot metal charging ladle sequence is known as the cycle time. The
4 Transportation of hot metal ladle to charging station key to improving productivity is to reduce
5 Scrap and hot metal charging the cycle time. Factors affecting cycle time
6 Setting of blowing and flux addition parameters in terms of quantity, rate and timing based on hot metal are:
analysis and product chemistry e Size of converter vessel;

e Shop logistics;
7 Primary blowing (till major decarburization is achieved)
8 Termination of primary blowing, slagging off, sampling and temperature measurement
e Product chemistry requirement;
9 Analysis of sample
e Hot metal chemistry and temperature;
10 Setting finishing blow parameters based on results of sample analysis
e Steelmaking method followed.
11 Finishing blow
12 Sampling, temperature measurement
13 Tapping of liquid steel into steel ladle, Ferro alloy addition, bottom stirring (as required) Any effort to increase productivity by
14 Slag splashing, dumping residual slag reducing cycle time involves changes in
15 Start of next cycle one or all of these factors. In conventional
turndown practice the furnaces are
Table 2: Sub-processes of BOF steelmaking blown to the ‘endpoint’ to measure the
temperature and dissolved oxygen content
eliminating the intermittent checking of purity oxygen to oxidise carbon, silicon, (in ppm) of the steel bath and to obtain
endpoint parameters – of the BOF is one sulphur, and phosphorus in the charge steel and slag samples prior to tapping.
solution. lowering each to acceptable levels. A BOF In this case the blow finish to tapping
This article explores the method and shop capable of treating a heat size of 270- start time ranges from 10-14 minutes.
pros and cons of straight blowing. 280t in about 45-50 minutes is considered In some cases the tap is delayed until the
optimal. Bath agitation is implemented at turndown steel analysis is received from
Steelmaking at BSL the start of blowing or after the main de- the laboratory to ensure a satisfactory
The Steel Melting Shop-II of Bokaro carburisation cycle, via bottom blowing level of impurities content.
Steel Ltd (BSL) – a member of India’s of argon and/or nitrogen. Slag formation,
SAIL group – produces a variety of steel CO bubbles, and close to equilibrium state Minor corrections
grades through the BOF-Ladle Furnace conditions, are better achieved by this The BOF converter has superior de-
– Continuous Casting route to meet bottom gas injection. phosphorylation ability. If the incoming
the stringent quality requirements of The basic operational steps of the phosphorus in the hot metal is low and
customers. SMS-II produces around 3Mt process are shown schematically in Fig 2. consistent, tapping is permitted as soon as
of low carbon aluminium killed cast slabs This involves receiving hot metal from the turndown tests samples are taken, without
every year. mixer – scrap charging – hot metal pouring waiting for sample analysis2, 4. Any minor
Varieties of steel grades regularly
produced include LPG, EDD, WTCR,
SAILMA, HSFQ and IS2062. SMS-II
consists of two 2500t mixers, two 300t
BOFs with bottom purging facility, two
300t ladle furnaces and two twin strand
slab casters. The charge to the combined
blowing BOF converters normally consists
of around 260-270t of BF hot metal from Main blow
Hot metal from mixer Scrap charging Hot metal pouring
the mixers and 35-40t of scrap depending
on the silicon level of the BF hot metal.
Other fluxes used are lime (~12t), calcined
dolomite (~7-8t), and dolomite chips (5-
6t). The blowing time ranges from 16-
17 minutes and tapping under normal
conditions takes eight to nine minutes.
The average tapping temperature ranges
Sampling
between 1660-1680°C. The process flow Corrective blow
(if required)
Tapping De-slagging

of steel making at SMS-II, BSL is shown

in Fig 1. Fig 2: Steps involved in conventional BOF operation
Basic oxygen steelmaking uses high

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OXYGEN STEELMAKING BOF.indd 2 7/13/15 11:08 AM


Bomb-secure loop
Bomb head
Rubber-covered electrical cord
Bomb drop loop
Fig 3: Bomb drop-in sensor
corrections to chemistry can be made in
the ladle furnace.
Current global status
Japan and some European shops achieve
sampling and testing times of one to three
minutes by using a quick tap procedure.
Most of these shops use sub-lances to
measure temperature and carbon by the
liquidus thermal arrest technique. This is
carried out without moving the furnace
from the upright position. The success
of quick-tap depends on consistently
meeting the sulphur and phosphorus
specification. This procedure can save
three to six minutes of laboratory analysis
time.
These shops simply proceed immediately
to tapping the furnace.
Some North American shops have
adopted a simplified version of the quick-
tap practice. A few have sub-lances.
Others use bomb drop-in thermocouples
(Fig 3) with or without oxygen sensors.
Here a heavy cast iron bomb assembly
with a specially wound and protected
wire coil is dropped into the furnace.
The wire lasts long enough to take a
reading. The readings are more accurate
if oxygen blowing is stopped, but some
shops achieve a usable reading even
during the blow. Again, tramp elements,
S, P and other residuals are assumed to
be acceptable and tapping proceeds
immediately. Some shops equipped with
only two BOF vessels use this technique to
minimise production losses when one of
the furnaces is being relined or repaired.
Development of Straight Blowing
Practice
Priority was given at BSL to reduce the
cycle time of BOF steelmaking so as to
increase the productivity of the shop. After
thorough investigation and deliberation it
was concluded that minimising the time
between the finish of blowing to start
tapping is an attractive way to reduce the
BOF cycle time since changing the charge
size of the converter or changing shop
logistics would require a large investment
in capital and time to implement.
To achieve a shorter time between
finishing the blow to start of tapping a
new process of steelmaking has been
formulated. A static model was used to
calculate the desired endpoint temperature
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OXYGEN STEELMAKING BOF.indd 3
2-wire plug
Blowing Sampling and
temperature
Fig 4: Steelmaking by straight blows
Event
Charging scrap and hot metal
Refining–blowing oxygen
Sampling–chemical testing
Tapping
Slag Splashing
Pouring slag off at furnace
Table 3: BOF steelmaking activities after implementation of
straight blow practice at SMS-II
and composition. Static models are mass
and energy balances that account for the
initial conditions (scrap and hot metal
temperatures and compositions) and the
desired end-point conditions of the bath
and slag, and indicate to the operator
the expected total oxygen and fluxes that
are required to reach that end-point. The
blow is stopped once the pre-determined
amount of oxygen has been reached.
In addition to the charge model, the
operator relies on other signals, such as
the change in the colour of the flame at
the mouth of the vessel and a characteristic
drop in the steam flow in the fume system
cooling circuit, to identify when the
carbon has been depleted3.
In practice, static charge models have a
limited ability to predict end-point because
they do not account for process dynamics.
End-point accuracy is also affected by
uncertainties in the initial conditions (eg
mass, temperature and composition of
the hot-metal, mass and type of scrap
and fluxes added) and by variations in the
efficiency of the oxygen lance, not only
within a heat as the height and flow of the
lance is varied, but also from heat to heat
as the lance wears and the geometry of
the vessel changes with refractory wear3.
In the modified process of steelmaking
at SMS-II, the entire amount of oxygen
required is blown in one go at a
predetermined rate thereby combining
the former primary and finishing blows.
Activities 8-11 in Table 2 are thus
eliminated without altering any other
activity. Studies have shown that the
cycle time is reduced by 15% to 20% by
this process4. The productivity of the steel
melting shop increases proportionately4.
This process will henceforth be called
‘steel making by straight blows’ in this
article. Fig 4 indicates such steelmaking
by straight blows.
OXYGEN STEELMAKING 29
Tapping Slag off
Pros and cons of straight blows
Minutes
Besides direct impact on productivity,
let us now consider other pros and cons
10-12
15-16
of this process which essentially involve
4-5 change in blowing methodology.
7-8
4-6 Pros- the advantages
3-4 e Since intermittent slogging off is
eliminated, metal out flow along with slag
is saved leading to marginal improvement
in yield.
e In the conventional process finishing
blow (post slagging off) is occasionally
dry. This doesn’t happen in straight blows.
The result is higher lance life.
e In theory, a lower FeO content in the
slag is expected leading to better yield and
higher vessel life (FeO mobility towards
vessel walls causes refractory erosion).
e In the case of the conventional
process, open combustion takes place
twice in every cycle as against only once
when using straight blows. The following
advantages result:
a. Higher hood and skirt life;
b. Reduced load on gas recovery system
due to elimination of one phase of open
combustion system;
c. Converter gas (fuel) recovery
marginally improves;
d. Duration of refractory-liquid steel
contact is reduced.
Cons – the down side
e Due to higher opening temperature,
the chemistry sometimes goes off
specification leading to pressure on
secondary refining of the steel. Particular
difficulty is faced in dephosphorisation as
the chances of phosphorus reversal are
higher at higher temperatures.
e Difficulty in maintaining higher
temperature gradient throughout the
blowing period.
e Marginally higher consumption of
fluxes.
e Straight blown heats usually carry
higher oxygen content. Hence, more
deoxidisers are often required.
e An important negative aspect of
straight blows is that steel is at a higher
temperature and the slag stays in contact
with the vessel refractory for a longer
period. This reduces vessel refractory life,
but a counter factor is a lower FeO in the
slag which makes it less aggressive where
refractory erosion is concerned.
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7/13/15 11:08 AM
 30 OXYGEN STEELMAKING

No of heats per day 92.93 92.9

93
92.12
30 28.26
92
27.1
90.81
26.3 91
27
25
90
No of heats per day

23.4
24 89 88.6 88.64 88.34

Straight blow %
21.3
88 87.3
21
87

18 86

85

15 84
02-03 03-04 04-05 05-06 06-07 07-08 05-06 06-07 07-08 08-09 09-10 10-11 11-12 12-13

Years Years

Trial Results Fig 5: Improvement in num- Fig 6: Percentage of straight blown heats over a period of time
The straight blow practice was fully ber of heats per day after
implemented at BSL, Bokaro. In the implementation of straight
% Reblow heats % FeO in turndown slag
previous practice, the operator had to blow practice
28 23
decide, before the start of the blow, how
22
the oxygen blow would progress; what 23

% FeO in BOF turndown slag

and when fluxes would be added during 21
the blow to arrive at the desired endpoint 18 20
% Reblow

in terms of temperature and composition. 19

In this practice, at the end of the 13 18
primary blow, the oxygen lance was
withdrawn; and the vessel tilted to take 17
8
samples to check the actual progress of Fig 7: Reduction in reblows 16
the blow with respect to temperature and required and unchanged
3 15
composition. Corrections in temperature FeO level in BOF slag after
02-03 03-04 04-05 05-06 06-07 07-08
and composition were carried out by re- implementation of straight
blowing the bath. blow practice Years

Waiting for sample analysis was more

time consuming since chemical analysis of
the samples by spectroscopy in a separate
laboratory meant a loss of several minutes
(12-13 minutes). Higher re-blows to
adjust temperature/composition thus
caused loss of production and had other
adverse effects such as lower lining life.
On implementing the straight
blow practice the entire amount of
predetermined oxygen required was
blown in one go.
Activities of slagging off, sampling
and temperature measurement after the
primary blow were eliminated. Static
control by using computers improved the
hit rate of end point temperature and
carbon significantly. BOF steelmaking
activities after implementation of straight
blow practice is summarised in Table 3.
Increased productivity
After implementation of straight blowing
practice, shop productivity has increased
by around 25%. The number of heats per
day increased to an average of 26.5 heats
(2003-4 to 2012-13) from 21.3 heats in
2002-03.
A maximum of 29.2 heats per day was
achieved in 2012-2013 as shown in Fig 5.
The increase in the number of heats was
made possible by a significant decrease
in the time from blow finish to start of
tapping. On an average more than 90% of
heats made in SMS-II are now by straight Acknowledgment
blowing (Fig 6). The authors are grateful to the
Re-blows also decreased to a level of management of the Bokaro Steel Plant
less than 5% on average compared to for extending its support to pursue the
more than 20% before when straight work. Thanks also to the personnel of
blow practice was not in use. After Steel Melting Shop-II and R&C Lab for
implementation of the straight blow their extensive support and to BSL during
practice to the desired endpoint, there execution of the present investigations.
was no significant over oxidation of the The authors are obliged to Shri Pankaj
bath and the FeO in the turndown slag did Kumar for support provided and express
not increase appreciably (Fig 7). their gratitude to all who, directly or
indirectly, supported this technical work.
Conclusion t
For SMS-II, BSL productivity improvement
of around 25% was achieved after
implementation of the straight blow
practice. Additionally, further benefits
were an improvement in end-point target References
hit-rate and a reduction in re-blows. 1 ‘Oxygen Steelmaking Processes’, T W Miller
On the down side, a previous increase et al MSTS, The Making Shaping & Treating of
in refractory lining life, gained due to Steel, AISE Steel Foundation, pp 475-522
improvement in refractory management, 2 ‘Quick direct tap at United States Steel
was partially offset by adopting straight Corporation’s Gary Works Q-BOP Shop’ Yun Li
blows. Also, there was an increase in ferro et al Iron & Steel Technology, Nov 2010, page
alloy consumption whenever the bath 37-45
became oxidised. 3 ‘BOF end point prediction’ Joseph Maiolo and
In view of the above, it is advisable Doug Zuliani, Metal Producing & Processing,
to make a trade-off considering shop Nov/Dec-2008, page 15-18
logistics, and the extent of productivity 4 ‘Increasing BOF productivity and profitability
increase required to match the upstream by quick-tapping with drop-in sensor’ Stem, R
and downstream units of an integrated A , Steelmaking Conference proceedings, Vol
steel plant. These aspects vary from plant 78, Publ: Iron and Steel Society/AIME, 1995,
to plant. page 143-146

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