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Preliminary Results from Electric Arc Furnace Off-Gas Enthalpy Modeling

Publication Type
Conference Proceeding

This article describes electric arc furnace (EAF) off-gas enthalpy models developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) to calculate overall heat availability (sensible and chemical enthalpy) and recoverable heat values (steam or power generation potential) for existing EAF operations and to test ORNL’s new EAF waste heat recovery (WHR) concepts. ORNL’s new EAF WHR concepts are: Regenerative Drop-out Box System and Fluidized Bed System. The two EAF off-gas enthalpy models described in this paper are:

  1. Overall Waste Heat Recovery Model that calculates total heat availability in off-gases of existing EAF operations

  2. Regenerative Drop-out Box System Model in which hot EAF off-gases alternately pass through one of two refractory heat sinks that store heat and then transfer it to another gaseous medium

These models calculate the sensible and chemical enthalpy of EAF off-gases based on the off-gas chemical composition, temperature, and mass flow rate during tap to tap time, and variations in those parameters in terms of actual values over time. The models provide heat transfer analysis for the aforementioned concepts to confirm the overall system and major component sizing (preliminary) to assess the practicality of the systems.

Real-time EAF off-gas composition (e.g., CO, CO2, H2, and H2O), volume flow, and temperature data from one EAF operation was used to test the validity and accuracy of the modeling work. The EAF off-gas data was used to calculate the sensible and chemical enthalpy of the EAF off-gases to generate steam and power. The article provides detailed results from the modeling work that are important to the success of ORNL’s EAF WHR project. The EAF WHR project aims to develop and test new concepts and materials that allow cost-effective recovery of sensible and chemical heat from high-temperature gases discharged from EAFs.