Technological innovations of electric arc furnace bottom-blowing in China

Nowadays, in China, the bottom-blowing technique plays an important role in accelerating the molten bath stirring and promoting the metallurgical reactions in electric arc furnace (EAF) steelmaking. The innovations of bottom-blowing technologies in EAF steelmaking were reviewed. The optimized bottom-blowing arrangement in EAF based on the furnace structure and the position of electrodes was introduced, and the fluid flow characteristics of EAF molten bath with bottom-blowing were analyzed. Furthermore, bottom-blowing CO₂ in EAF can facilitate the carbon–oxygen reaction reaching equilibrium and decrease the content of nitrogen in molten steel due to its special metallurgical properties. Pulsating bottom-blowing in EAF can effectively improve the molten bath stirring through the action of the unsteady bottom-blowing gas streams, which could make the fluid flow field more disorderly than the steady bottom-blowing. And submerged O₂ injection with CO₂ in EAF can noticeably strengthen the EAF molten bath stirring, increase the production efficiency and improve the molten steel quality.