Foaming in Electric Arc Furnace—Part II: Foaming Visualization and Comparison with Plant Trials

The kinetics of slag foaming by limestone particles was studied at 1773 K (1500 °C) with the aid of an X-ray imaging system. Two models were implemented to describe the decrease in foam height with the time on the basis of the lowering of the average temperature and CaO shell formation during decomposition reaction. The energy impact of carbonate additions was studied on an industrial scale in a 100-ton electric arc furnace (EAF). It was found that, in the case of the addition of carbonates after the scrap is completely molten, the heat effects for limestone and dolomite (2255 and 2264 kJ/kg, respectively) were only 70 pct from theoretical values. Comparing these values with similar additions during the scrap melting stage shows that the energy requirements in the case of carbonate additions to steel bath are much smaller. It was found from the trial heats with dolomite addition to the steel bath that the partial substitution of lime by raw dolomite can be made without an increase in energy consumption.