CONTINUOUS FUMES MONITORING FOR DYNAMIC CONTROL OF OXYGEN INJECTIONS IN EAF

Bruno Allemand, Savine Bockel-Macal, Pierre Bruchet , Fabien Januard, Jacky Laurent Air Liquide Centre de Recherche Claude-Delorme 1, chemin de la Porte des Loges les Loges en Josas BP 126-78 354 Jouy en Josas Cedex- France Phone : + 33 (1) 3907 6319

Abstract
EAF process has been continuously improving for the last 30 years and has achieved spectacular performances in terms of productivity and electricity specific consumption. A general trend observed worldwide is an increase in oxygen and carbon injections. Multifunction tools for oxygen injection have become a standard for new EAFs and revamping of old EAFs. With these tools, oxygen can be injected under various parameters for : decarburisation with supersonic O2 nozzles combined with carbon injection for foamy slag forming, in-situ post-combustion with low velocity injectors, scrap melting boosting with oxy-fuel burners. Fossil fuel energies (oxygen, carbon, natural gas) represent up to 40% of total energy consumed in EAF, and even more in some cases. A very critical issue for EAF improvement is dynamic control of oxygen and fossil fuel injections, taking into account real furnace conditions at each step of the melt. Dynamic control of O2 injections, relying on a breakthrough technology for CO and CO2 monitoring is presented. Based on infra-red laser-diode spectroscopy, CO and CO2 monitoring in high temperature and in dust-loaded EAF fumes is now available continuously during the melt for long-term operations, with a user-friendly system. The very short response time offered by this technology (less than one second) makes dynamic control of oxygen injections very efficient in term of electricity savings and productivity. In particular, this technology represents a dramatic improvement compared to conventional extracting, filtering and analysing systems. Several industrial trials will be presented, describing the technology and results achieved will be discussed.

Introduction
A general trend observed worldwide for EAF processes is an increase in oxygen [1] (average of 31 Nm3/t of tapped steel and up to 50 Nm3/t) and carbon injections. Efficiency of oxygen injections has been increased simultaneously, particularly with the development of multi-function tools for new EAFs and revamping of old EAFs. Fossil fuel energies (oxygen, carbon, natural gas) represent up to 40% of total energy consumed in EAF, and even more in some cases. To maintain the improvement of efficiency of fossil fuel injections, the critical issue is the dynamic control of these injections based on real time monitoring of fumes. In this paper, potential benefits of real time post-combustion oxygen injections based on CO/CO2 continuous monitoring of fumes are first presented. Air Liquide technology, which is fully described below, consists in CO and CO2 monitoring in dust-loaded EAF fumes based on Tunable Diode Laser Absorption Spectroscopy (TDLAS). The very short response time offered by this technology (less than one second) makes dynamic control of oxygen injections very efficient in terms of electrical savings and productivity. In particular, it represents a dramatic improvement compared to conventional extracting, filtering and analysing systems. Several industrial trials on EAF at Ascometal (Fos/mer, France) and Lamins Marchands Europens (Trith Saint Lger, France) will be described and results achieved will be discussed.

Expected savings from a dynamic control of oxygen injection

Interest of off-gas monitoring It is well known that off-gas monitoring helps to improve the knowledge of the whole process and furnace conditions at each step of the melt. In this paper, we focus on the interest of offgas monitoring during the earlier step of the melt when post-combustion is particularly efficient. The principle of commercial pure oxygen post-combustion is to burn the CO in CO2 inside the shell and to take advantage of the highly exothermic reaction. Oxygen is introduced at low velocity counter current to the flow of gases what promotes efficient mixing of oxygen with the furnace gases. Thus chemical energy from CO and H2 is transferred to the scraps instead of overheating downstream water cooled duct and increasing the risk of explosion in the baghouses. Air Liquide post-combustion (ALARC-PC) is considered as a breakthrough technology with savings as high as 59 kWh/t [2], classically 40 kWh/t. Most of the time, oxygen is injected according to set-points. A punctual campaign of off-gas analysis is made to find an average CO and H2 profile and the set-points of oxygen flow rate are defined to optimise the chemical energy released by post-combustion. But off-gas composition profiles are dramatically different from one heat to another. It results that the oxygen, which is injected according to the set-points, does not match CO and H2 instantaneous composition. Thus, two cases can be encountered (see Figure 3): All the CO is not burnt by oxygen and chemical energy is lost, Too much oxygen is injected and the furnace atmosphere becomes overoxidising which could involve overconsumption of electrodes and refractories.

An off-line study has been made on an industrial furnace (165t twin-shell furnace) database to evaluate the potential benefits of using an off-gas analysis to control oxygen injections for post-combustion. Off-gas analysis (CO, CO2, H2 and O2) had been performed for several months with ALARCAS classical sampling method (which consists in extracting, filtering, drying and analysing system). The study deals with around 300 heats. 75 heats have been selected by the steel maker to define a clean average gas profile during the heat. The selection criterion was that the heat was eliminated if some of its own values (like tap weight, scrap weight, electrical energy) are more than three standard deviations away from the average value of the whole dataset. The calculation in order to be as realistic as possible takes into account some practical assumptions: Estimation of 4th hole flow rate in order to evaluate the total amount of chemical energy which is leaving the furnace: a carbon balance has been used. The flow rate found has been confirmed by steelmaker experience. Limits for recoverable energy: all the chemical energy from CO and H2 cannot be recovered. It has been assumed that a residual of 5% CO and 2% H2 cannot be exploited. Efficient energy: the heat transfer efficiency of post-combustion is highly dependent on the meltdown stage: the larger the exchange area with scraps is and the colder they are, the greater the heat transfer efficiency is. A profile of this heat transfer has been estimated according to the meltdown stage : from 70% at the earliest stage of the heat to 15% in flat bath, this last value has been confirmed by CFD modelling [3]. Limitation on O2 injections capacity : when the heat transfer efficiency collapses, postcombustion injections are stopped typically 15 minutes after the bucket load. Moreover, the total instantaneous flow rate has been limited to 3000 Nm3/h which is a typical post-combustion installation. This allows indirectly to limit the thermal overload released by the post-combustion. To quantify impact of set-points strategy compared to oxygen injection based on real time measurement, the set-points were defined thanks to the average CO and H2 profiles on the 70 selected heats (Figure 1).

Steelmaker database Dofasco + off-gas analysis (300 heats) - scrap mix

- Tap weight - Electrical consumption - CO, CO 2, H 2, O2

Average off -gas profile on 70 heats

Definition of O 2 set-points

4th hole dry flow rate

Figure 1 : definition of oxygen set-points Based on these set-points, the simulation was run first on each of the 70 selected heats and then on each of 300 heats.

On the selected 70 heats , the recovered energy is in average 25% less compared to efficient energy that could be recovered if a dynamic control of O2 injection is based on a real time off-gas measurement. The oxygen consumption in this case is 20% more than with a real time control. Note that on the whole dataset (300 heats ie without choosing the more reproducible heats), recovered energy is 35% less and oxygen consumption 45% more than with real time control (see Figure 2). The overoxidising atmosphere could damage refractories, increase electrode consumption and decrease metal yield. This is why a safety factor is introduced to limit punctual overoxydation (Figure 3) when post-combustion is controlled by set-points. In the simulation for the 70 selected heats, the instantaneous maximal flow rate of oxygen was decreased in order to avoid injecting oxygen in excess (from 3000 Nm3/h to 1700 Nm3/h). Recovered energy in this case collapsed to 50% of that recovered energy with real-time control.
160 140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0

Recovered energy oxygen consumption

Set-points control Real-time control available on each heat on 70 selected heats With risk of Without risk of overoxydation overoxydation

Set-points control on 300 heats With risk of overoxydation

Set-points control on 70 selected heats Without risk of overoxydation (safety factor)

Figure 2 : Performance of real-time post-combustion control compared to set-points control in terms of energy recovery and oxygen consumption (simulation)

Figure 3 : Comparison between an average CO profile and CO profile during one selected heat (twin shell with preheating phase)

The conclusion of this study is that off-gas measurement allows both oxygen injections to really fit CO profiles and optimize the recovered energy for each heat. Relevant species to be monitored The way to measure the post-combustion efficiency is to rely on the post-combustion ratio (defined as CO2/(CO+CO2) ). To ensure that oxygen is not degrading metal yield for example, the CO2 measurement is needed for a safer regulation. The oxygen measurement is a priori not a key value because this species is not representative of a good running of the furnace. In fact, oxygen reacts immediately with CO at 1600C and presence of oxygen in fumes would mean that too much iron or carbon of electrodes have been already oxidised. Based on a statistical study on an off-gas analysis dataset, a strategy to estimate H2 composition has been developed (Figures 3, 4): a modelling of the ratio CO/H2, continuously during the heat, allows estimating hydrogen composition from CO measurement, with enough sensitivity to adjust post-combustion.
Second bucket study
5.0 4.5 4.0 3.5 3.0

average ratio CO/H2 extrapolated ratio

ratio

2.5 2.0 1.5 1.0 0.5 0.0 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160

time (relative unit)

Figure 4: statistical calculation of CO/H2 ratio (average on 70 heats)

Figure 5: comparison between calculated H2 and measured H2 on 1 random heat Benefit of a real-time control The simulation made it possible to estimate potential benefits of a real time measurement compared to a classical sampling analysis method with a response time of more than 30s.

In fact, in order to measure off-gas composition in harsh environment such as EAF fumes (very high temperature around 1600C and high dust loading 150 g/Nm3), the only method that was realizable until now was to sample the gas at the gap through a water cooled probe, to filter and dry it, and to analyse it with classical gas analysers (infra-red, paramagnetic). Off line, to take into account a 30-second response time of the classical analysis method, it was decided to simulate oxygen injection quantity, at t moment, corresponding to the CO and H2 measurement made at t-30s. Recovered energy calculated for the 70 selected heats was in average 30% less than with a real time control. Oxygen consumption was increased by 10%. Results are similar for the whole dataset of 300 heats as the main advantage of this system is to definitely adapt oxygen injections to the running heat. Efficiency of control by classical analysis compared to a set-points control is similar for selected heats and only slightly better for the non reproducible other heats. To fully take advantage of chemical energy in EAF, the post-combustion has to be adapted to each individual heat with a reliable off-gas measurement tool. The latter should: provide a reliable value of CO and CO2 during the whole heat, make possible a real time control and so have a very low response time require low level of maintenance, be user-friendly.

Air Liquide technology description

TDLAS principles The tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy (TDLAS) has been selected as the best available technology for real time measurement of gas concentration [4, 5]. The principle is to measure the absorption of a monochromatic laser beam emitting a specific wavelength of the absorption spectra of the gas one wishes to monitor. The beam is emitted, goes through the gas to be analyzed and the intensity is measured by a receiver (Figure 6). The gas concentration is given by Beer-Lambert law (1). I v = I v,o exp[ S(T)g(v vo )Nl ]
I,0 : received intensity S(T) : intensity of the absorption line (temperature dependence) g(-0) : profile of the line l : optical pathlength N: number of molecules then given by:

(1)

N=

I 1 ln Ivo dv S(T)l v

(2)

At this stage, the most reliable technology for industrial gas measurement is near-IR TDL. In this wavelength range, the laser source can be used at ambient temperature and only requires a Pelletier cooler to adjust internal temperature instead of cryogenic cooling required for actual mid-IR technology. The wavelength is chosen considering the species you want to measure, the gas temperature and potential interferences from peaks of other species (called spectrometric interference). Non spectroscopic interferences, like collision broadening or self broadening of absorption line, are well known at low temperature since they can be easily tested with usual laboratory facilities. The measurement is not dependant on the dust amount in the gas so long as the level of power is above a threshold which is usually between 0.5 and 3% of emitted intensity.

Figure 6 : diode laser measurement principles Technical challenges for EAF application - In EAF environment, the first issue for TDL measurement is the high dust loading which could decrease dramatically the power of the laser. Moreover the particle size of EAF fines (around 10 m) particularly emphases the scattering effect. To have a significant received power during the whole heat, the reduction of the optical path length is mandatory. - The second problem for TDL measurement is the temperature. At 1600C, water lines and interferences with other species are really an issue as well as the calibration (which is required for most of TDL systems using frequency modulation). Moreover, current technology of nearIR measurement does not make possible monitoring CO2 at high temperature. Even if some trials run with laser source at 2 m, no industrial device is available at present. - The maintenance of the system and its reliability (robustness and accuracy) for long-term use in harsh environment is also a key factor. Basic description of Air Liquide technology To successfully answer to the technical challenges exposed above, Air Liquide has developed a patent pending technology which takes advantage of diode laser for CO/CO2 measurement in EAF fumes. The key point of this technology is to cool the gas to make it possible a simultaneous CO and CO2 measurement with the same near-IR TDL device. A gas sample is taken by a cooled probe at or just after the gap in an area non polluted by air dilution. The cooled probe is equipped with systems which prevent dust and condensed water from sticking on probe walls. A Venturi ejector allows to reach a large range of suction flow rates (from a few m3/h to 200 m3/h) and thus to reach a short response time compared to previous classical analysis method (typically around 150 L/h with ALARC AS). The gas is then passing through the analysis chamber.

Figure 7: open optical head on analysis chamber Typically the analysis chamber is put on the water cooled duct, a few meters from the gap. The optical heads (Figure 7) are put on each side of the chamber and the TDL signal is

emitted by the central unit that is located away from the furnace. Laser signal is transmitted via optical fibers. The thus reduced path length in the analysis chamber makes possible getting rid of dust effect in order to ensure enough received power. Optical air purges have been designed simultaneously to keep optical windows clean and to avoid air dilution. The gas after having passed through the analysis chamber is re-injected at the gap or downstream in the exhaust system. With this device, no filter, no dryer are required.

Laser signal

Optical Heads

Water Probe

Venturi ejector

Compressed air

Off-gas + Dust

Figure 8 : Air Liquide technology principles The key facts of this technology are : - Reliable and real-time (within 1s) measurement of CO and CO2 during the whole heat (no power loss with a reduced optical pathlength). - No filters, no dryers needed to perform the measurement, which considerably decreases maintenance. - No electronics is exposed to harsh conditions (optical heads do not contain laser source or electronics).

Industrial demonstrations and performances

Air Liquide technology has been implemented on the duct of Ascometal EAF (Fos/mer, France). It had been running three months without clogging or power loss. The system was still running perfectly when it had to be removed for the plant annual maintenance. TDL used was manufactured by Unisearch Associates (Concord, Canada). The system response time had been measured at less than one second: a punctual injection of calibrated CO/CO2 had been made directly on the tip of the probe when the exhaust system was on :the signal had been seen less than one second after. The measurement had been successfuly compared to the ALARC AS system. The sample probe of ALARC AS was directly beside sample probe of derivative device one. To compare both signals, the ALARC AS signal was manually x-axis translated on Figure 9 for the response time of analyser. The TDL measurement is more reactive than the classical method, which considerably smoothes the signal. This phenomenon is emphasized at low concentration, as it was expected, due to the dilution of the sampling line at reduced flow rate.

The maintenance time of the system was dramatically reduced to less than 15 min every two weeks. When the system was removed, the probe was still clean inside after three months running without having been manually cleaned. No misalignment on TDL occured.

Figure 9: example of comparison between TDL CO and ALARC AS CO A second system was recently implemented in Lamins Marchands Europens (LME Trith St Lger). Its objective is to control post-combustion through real-time fumes monitoring. This 80-tonne DC furnace uses a large part of fossil fuels injections. High amount of oxygen is injected through three Pyrejets [6] and three post-combustion ALARC-PC injectors. The Air Liquide system is exposed to very extreme environment. As the furnace is covered by a doghouse, it is often over pressurized and ambient temperature inside the doghouse, a few meters away from the furnace where the analysis chamber of Air Liquide device is, can reached up to 180C. Moreover, for a DC furnace, the heel is usually important and a lot of projections occur at each loading. Results on long-term trials ( 3-6 months) in terms on reliability, robustness and low-maintenance of the Air Liquide continuous CO/CO2 monitoring system will be soon available and fully described. Dynamic control of oxygen injections through continuous fumes monitoring will be performed in a second step and benefits from a real-time control will be estimated.

Conclusions
As more and more oxygen and carbon are injected in EAF, dynamic control of these inputs is becoming a critical target for most EAF in order to improve their global efficiency. Air Liquides objective has been to develop, in addition to its oxygen technologies for the EAF market, efficient and user-friendly solutions for automatic control of oxygen injections. It has been demonstrated that, if oxygen injected for post-combustion is continuously controlled by real-time data acquisition of CO and CO2 concentrations in EAF off-gases, a 50% increase in recovery rate of chemical energy in fumes could be achieved, compared to operation based on pre-defined set points. Systems for continuous monitoring of gas concentration in industrial fumes, which have been available up to now, actually cannot be used for EAF fumes, mainly because of the extremely high level of fine dusts as well as the intensity of maintenance they require. Moreover, the response time of those systems is not quick to sustain efficient and reactive control.

The technology developed by Air Liquide is based on the best available technology, the tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy (TDLAS), for in-situ monitoring of gas concentration in hot and dust-loaded fumes. TDLAS is an emerging technology for combustion monitoring (Power plants, Boilers, Incinerators) which provides reliable and accurate measurement, even for wide fluctuations of concentration of relevant species, as well as a very short response time consistent with process control applications. There are however several hurdles which have limited application of TDLAS to EAF fumes monitoring until now: high dust concentration, very high temperature, difficulty to measure simultaneously CO and CO2, which is mandatory to control the post-combustion ratio. The technology, which has been described hereabove, has solved these issues and has been implemented on two electric arc furnaces. Next step of the program is to connect oxygen control system for post-combustion optimisation and confirm assumptions of targeted benefits. The technology developed by Air Liquide presents also some interesting potentialities for efficient control of oxygen injections in terms of productivity and electricity savings during the refining step. Acknowledgements : The authors wish to acknowledge the contribution of Unisearch (Concord, ON), Dofasco (Hamilton, ON), Ascometal (Fos, France)and LME ( Trith Saint Leger, France) to this work. References [1] M.Grant, B. Allemand, Efficiency of oxygen technologies in the EAF, (Paper presented at 58th Electric Furnace conference, Orlando, Florida, November 12-15 2000) [2] D.S. Gregory et al., Results of ALARC-PC post-combustion at Cascade Steel Rolling Mills; I&SM (May 1996), 49-54 and (paper presented at ISS 53rd Electric Furnace Conference, Orlando, November 1995) Dr Y Li and Prof RJ Fruehan , CFD Modeling of Post Combustion in the EAF and BOF, (CISR Progress Report, November 2001) I. Lennerud, P. Kaspersen and T. Jaeger, Gas monitoring in the process industry using diode laser spectroscopy, Applied Physics B B67 (1998), 297-305 H.I. Schiff, G.I. Mackay and J. Bechara , The use of Tunable diode laser, Absorption spectroscopy for atmospheric measurements, Res. Chem. Intermed., 20 ( 1994), 525556 JM Thebault and al., , Pyrejet TM amulti-functiun system for EAF steelmaking : industrial results at LME (France), (paper presented at 7th European steel making Conference, Venice, Italy, 26-29 May 2002)

[3] [4] [5]

[6]