Thermodynamic and parametric modeling in the refining of high carbon ferrochromium alloys using manually operated AODs

M.Sc. (50/50) Research project submitted to School of Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa July 2017This study and the work done involves investigating the effects of different parameters on the decarburization process of high carbon ferrochromium melts to produce medium carbon ferrochrome, and takes into account the manipulation of the different parameters and thermodynamic models based on actual plant data. Process plant data was collected from a typical plant producing medium carbon ferrochrome alloys using AODs. The molten alloy was tapped from the EAF and charged into the AOD for decarburization using oxygen and nitrogen gas mixtures. The gases were blown into the converter through the bottom tuyeres. Metal and slag samples and temperature measurements were taken throughout the duration of each heat. The decarburization process was split into two main intervals namely first stage blow (where carbon content in the metal bath is between 2-8 wt. % C) and second stage blow (carbon mass% below 2 wt. %). The first and second blow stages were differentiated by the gas flow rates whereby the first stage was signified by gas flow ratio of 2:1 (O2:N2), whilst the stage blow had 1:1 ratio of oxygen and nitrogen respectively. The effect of Cr mass% on carbon activity and how it relates to rate of decarburization was investigated, and the results indicated that an increase in Cr 66.54 – 70.5 wt. % reduced carbon activity in the metal bath from 0.336 – 0.511 for the first blowing stage. For the second blowing stage, the increase in Cr mass % of 67.22 – 71.65 wt. % resulted in an increase in C activity from 0.336 – 0.57. The trend showed that an increase in chromium composition resulted in a decrease in carbon activity and the same increase in Cr mass% resulted in reduced carbon solubility. Based on the plant data, it was observed that the rate of decarburization was time dependent, that is, the longer the decarburization time interval, the better the carbon removal from the metal bath. An interesting observation was that the change in carbon mass percent from the initial composition to the final (Δ%C) decreased from 10.18 – 8.37 wt. % with the increase in Cr/C ratio from 8.37 – 10.18. This effect was attributed to the chromium affinity for carbon and the fact that an increase in chromium content in the bath was seen to reduce activity of carbon. It was also observed that the effect of the Cr/C ratio was more significant in the first stage of the blowing process compared to the second blowing stage. A mass and energy balance model was constructed for the process under study to predict composition of the metal bath at any time interval under specified plant conditions and parameters. The model was used to predict the outcome of the process by manipulating certain parameters to achieve a set target. By keeping the gas flow rates, blowing times, gas ratios and initial metal bath temperature unchanged, the effect of initial temperature on decarburization in the converter was investigated. The results showed that the carbon end point with these parameters fixed decreased with increasing initial temperature, and this was supported by literature. The partial pressure of oxygen was observed to increase with decrease in C mass % between the first and second blow stages. For the second stage blow the partial pressure changed from 5.52*10-12 – 2.1*10-10 and carbon mass % increased from 0.754 – 2.99 wt. %. A carbon mass % of 7.87 had an oxygen partial pressure of 4.51*10-13 whilst a lower carbon content of 1.53 wt. % had an oxygen partial pressure of 8.06*10-11. The CO partial pressure however increased with increase in carbon composition in the metal bath. When the oxygen flow rate increased, a corresponding increase in the carbon removed (Δ%C) was observed. For the first stage of the blowing process, an increase in oxygen flow rate from 388.67 – 666.5Nm3 resulted in an increase in carbon removed from 5.06 – 7.28 wt. %. The second blowing stage had lower oxygen flow rates because of the carbon levels remaining in the metal bath were around +/- 2 wt. %. In this stage oxygen flow rates increased from 125 – 286.67 Nm3 and carbon removed (Δ%C) from 0.16 – 2.093 wt. %. The slag showed that an increase in basicity resulted in an increase in Cr2O3 in the slag. As the basicity increased from 0.478 – 1.281, this resulted in an increase in Cr2O3 increase from 0.26 – 0.68. Nitrogen solubility in the metal bath was investigated and it was observed that it increased with increasing Cr mass %. The increase in nitrogen solubility with increasing Cr mass % was independent of the nitrogen partial pressures.MT201