Electric Arc Furnace

1. EAF Introduction
2. Developments in EAF Technology
3. Basic Equipment and Operation
4. Furnace Layout
5. Electrical Equipment
6. Melting
7. Burners
8. Raw Materials
9. Raw Materials Preparation
10. Alloy Yield
11. Electrode Breakage
12. Slag Foaming
13. Slag Foamability
14. Slag Reduction
15. Deslagging
16. Tapping
17. Exercise: EAF Operation
18. EAF Simulation

The integrated steelmaking route – producing steel based on the liquid iron originating from iron ore – still dominates the world production of steel, but the EAF route accounts for a larger and larger portion every year. In 2004, a third of the annual worldwide steel production was made via the EAF route and in the USA, more steel is produced from recycled scrap than from iron ore.

The recycling of scrap saves the consumption of virgin raw materials and energy, which of course is beneficial from both an economic and an environmental point of view.

Using recycled materials, the EAF process route is suitable for the production of both low-alloy and high-alloy steels, resulting in a wide range of final products, from motor engines and large steel tools to stainless steel cutlery and medical equipment. The production capacity of an EAF varies at different plants depending mainly on the batch size (normally between 50 and 150 tonnes) and power input. Tap-to-tap time, i.e. the time from one tapping to the next, is between 45 minutes to 2 hours, and is usually designed to match the steel mill casting rate.