electric arc furnace innovation addressing the …...blast furnace operations. the long lead time to...

Electric Arc Furnace at the Materials Processing Institute

ELECTRIC ARC FURNACE INNOVATION -ADDRESSING THE TECHNOLOGY CHALLENGES

WHITE PAPERTHE STEEL INDUSTRY SERIESPAPER No.3 - JUNE 2017

ELECTRIC ARC FURNACE INNOVATION - ADDRESSING THE TECHNOLOGY CHALLENGES

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Electric Arc Furnace Innovation - Addressing the Technology Challenges

STEEL INDUSTRY SERIES

ExEcutivE SummaryThe global steel industry is seeking innovative newsolutions to the challenge of CO2 emissions andopportunities for investment in sustainable businessesand operating models. In this environment, the electricarc furnace (EAF) presents an opportunity for thoseregions where there is a sufficient supply of secondary, orother suitable raw materials. Switching an increasingproportion of global steel production to the EAF couldgive significant benefits, but it is hindered by the challengeof energy availability and product quality. This challengehas been identified by a number of leading steelcompanies in nations including the United Kingdom,Germany, Sweden and Austria, and in all cases, innovationis seen as the key to unlocking this potential.

In the UK, the Materials Processing Institute is utilising itsunique pilot scale EAF facilities to directly tackle theproblem of residuals and nitrogen in steel, an area whereit has recently filed a patent. Responding to thesechallenges will take time, but in doing so, the steel industrywill be well positioned to benefit from structurally lowercapital costs and increased operational flexibility. In thecurrent wider industrial drive for increased automation, aspart of Industry 4.0, this technology shift can be seen aspositioning the steel industry to be highly automated, withenvironmental sustainability at its core, investing for thelong term in the training and skills of its people and led bya strategy centred on innovation.

tHE GrEat EaF OPPOrtuNity

Around the world, steelmakers are seeking a response tothe global challenge to reduce CO2 emissions and havea more sustainable business model, both in terms ofenvironmental impact and financial return. In Europe, inparticular, this is exacerbated by the need to import rawmaterials, whilst the continent, as a whole, exports muchof its scrap. Another challenge is the looming scale ofreinvestment that will be required to equip the existinground of integrated steel mills for the environmental,automation and product quality challenges of thecoming decades.

It is in this background, where steelmakers would benefitfrom a low capital cost, flexible, specialist steel operation,utilising home sourced raw materials and emittingintrinsically less CO2, that the great opportunity for theelectric arc furnace has arrived.

This is not to say that the end is imminent for existing blastfurnace operations. The blast furnace has proven its abilityto be one of the most efficient industrial processes everdevised. Existing blast furnace producers, will continue toinvest in developing and maintaining these vital assetsand indeed, new blast furnaces will be built, particularlyin regions where there is little availability of suitable EAFcharge materials. However, the essential chemical relianceof the blast furnace on carbon as a reductant, combinedwith the relatively high cost of capital, means that agradual rebalancing over time to EAF production nowseems inevitable.

For the EAF to realise this potential, significant effort isrequired in innovation to overcome both quality andeconomic challenges. Some of these challenges wereoutlined in a previous paper1, but a more systematicapproach is required to address these and this is being co-ordinated by the Materials Processing Institute asindicated in Table 1. The Institute is open to working withsteel companies and supply chain partners from aroundthe world on this range of challenges.

Pilot Scale Electric Arc Furnace at the Materials Processing Institute

Materials Processing Institute

LOw carbON StEELmakiNG

It is clearly the case that the potential for greaterexploitation of electric arc steelmaking is greatest in thoseparts of the world where there is an abundant supply ofscrap, but electricity and a robust electrical infrastructureare also essential.

One of the most significant advantages of the electricsteelmaking route is the potential for significantreductions in carbon emissions.

To realise this requires a primary electricity source that isnot only carbon neutral, but is sufficiently robust toenable matching of the demand surges associated withEAF production, to the sometimes intermittentgeneration capacity associated with renewable energy.

To overcome this problem researchers at the Zero Carbonand Hydrogen Hub, part of the Materials ProcessingInstitute in the UK, have developed a concept for energystorage, regeneration and distribution, based on ahydrogen system and DC/AC smart grids.

cHaLLENGE

Energy • Production• Storage• Distribution

Development of Zero carbon & HydrogenHub technology demonstrator.

raw materials • Scrap quality• alternative ferrous materials

Development of techno-economic models toevaluate new process configurations andmaterial evaluation at Electric Steelmakingresearch centre, using pilot EaF facility.

iNNOvatiON arEaSStatuS at

matEriaLS PrOcESSiNG iNStitutE

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TABLE 1 - KEY INNOVATION CHALLENGES FOR LOW CARBON EAF STEELMAKING

Currently in the design phase, a technology demonstratoris planned, utilising the Institute’s 7T pilot scale EAF andoff-grid capability as a complete demonstration site. Asimilar approach is taking place in Sweden, wheresignificant Government funding has also beenannounced2. Further initiatives are also taking place inAustria3.

Product Quality • Processing of steel melt to remove residual elements

• Low nitrogen steelmaking

• Direct casting

New technology concepts for low nitrogensteelmaking, support for fundamental researchon residual removal.

investigations into benefits of direct casting, e.g.pilot twin roll caster facility.

Typical sources of Zero Carbon Energy Generation


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raw matEriaLS

With progress being made on low carbon energy, rawmaterials are the next consideration and link directly toproduct quality.

There can be a general perception that production ofsteels via the EAF route necessarily results in intrinsicallylower quality product, with residual levels the primaryconcern, but this need not be the case. In the UK, theBritish Metals Recycling Association (BMRA), haspublished information4 to show that it is technologicallyfeasible to separate ferrous and non-ferrous materials inscrap to such an extent that most trace elements can beeliminated. The EAF can also accept alternative rawmaterials, such as Directly Reduced Iron (DRI), HotBriquetted Iron (HBI), or other novel ferrous raw materialscurrently under development, in partnership with theElectric Steelmaking Research Centre, at the MaterialsProcessing Institute.

By utilising such raw materials technologies andalternative raw materials, the non-ferrous element in themelt can be reduced to acceptable levels.

StEEL PrOcESSiNG

Where it is either not feasible, or not economic to removeresiduals prior to melting, efforts must be made toimprove the steel quality during EAF processing. Thereare two challenges here in both copper and nitrogen.Much can be done to remove copper prior to melting,but efforts are now also being made to address the issueof copper during processing.

Nitrogen presents a particular challenge in that low levelsare critical for many steel strip applications, but the ‘open’nature of the EAF results in higher levels of dissolvednitrogen than that found by the oxygen steelmakingroute.

This challenge is receiving attention from the MaterialsProcessing Institute, where a patent application has beensubmitted5 for a new technology, capable of beingretrofitted to existing EAFs, that would enable lownitrogen steels to be produced via this process for thefirst time. This technology could immediately transformthe production of high quality strip steels.

aDvaNcED caStiNG tEcHNOLOGiES

The implementation of such processing technology willof course be dependent to some extent on localeconomics, but there is another option that presents itselfto the steelmaker and one with much further reachingadvantages. The EAF lends itself extremely well toworking in combination with advanced near net shapecasting technology, such as twin roll strip casting. This hasan immediate quality advantage in that the rapidsolidification prevents the development of metallurgicaldefects associated with, for instance, coppercontamination. Twin roll casting also has clear financialbenefits, both in terms of capital expenditure, low labourcosts and high productivity.

In addition to the pilot EAF and alloying facilities, theMaterials Processing Institute uniquely possesses a pilottwin roll casting plant, that has been used for thedevelopment of this processing route and associated steelproducts, with the potential for new investigations onmore advanced steel grades.

tHE 4th iNDuStriaL rEvOLutiON

Resolving these technology challenges will helpsteelmakers to transition over time from their existingblast furnace operations. The long lead time to developmany of these technologies requires early investment ininnovation, long before the transition becomes imminent.

However, the potential for more widespread adoption ofelectric arc steelmaking presents a far reaching

Pilot Scale Twin Roll Caster at the Materials Processing Institute


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opportunity for the global steel industry to adopt new,more flexible business models, with lower capitalexpenditure and scope for greater product specialisationand productivity improvement through automation.

The product quality challenge of metallic residuals canbe overcome by utilising the latest scrap processingtechnology, considering alternative charge materials andutilising rapid solidification processes for sheet steels,such as twin roll casting. Nitrogen as a residual levelremains problematic, but innovations underdevelopment at the Materials Processing Institute,suggest that even this last quality challenge can beovercome.

It is apparent though, that to successfully exploit thisprocess route, with its potential technical and financialadvantages, requires more than investment in EAFs. Tobe fully successful requires significant investment ininnovation, a more flexible business model than thattraditionally associated with the integrated works,greater product specialisation and investment in thelatest, most innovative casting technologies.

The future vision for the steel industry is to be highlyautomated, with environmental sustainability at its core,investing for the long term in the training and skills of itspeople and led by a strategy centred on innovation.

This is the vision for the steel industry on which leadingglobal steel companies are working with the MaterialsProcessing Institute.

chris mcDonaldchief Executive Officermaterials Processing institute

Note: A concise version of this paper was published in Iron & Steel Today, May 2017

‘Electric Steelmaking – The New Paradigm for UK SteelManufacture’ : Materials Processing Institute,

http://www.mpiuk.com/downloads/industry-papers/mPi-Paper-02-Electric-Steelmaking-the-New-Paradigm-for-uk-Steel-manufacture.pdf May 2016

‘Funding for Green Steel production’: Steel Times International,42(2), March 2017, p5

‘Voestalpine, Siemens and VERBUND are Building a Pilot Facility forGreen Hydrogen at the Linz Location’:

http://www.voestalpine.com/group/en/media/press-releases/2017-02-07-voestalpine-siemens-and-verbund-are-building-a-pilot-facility-for-green-hydrogen-at-the-linz-location/ February 2017

‘Known Unknowns’: Fell, R, Materials World, 25(4), April 2017, pp40-41

‘Nitrogen Removal’: GB Patent Application, 16 14 938.7, September 2016

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THE ELECTRIC STEELMAKING RESEARCH CENTRE

The Electric Steelmaking Research Centre at the MaterialsProcessing Institute carries out all aspects of electricsteelmaking and metals processing research fromfundamental theory to practical implementation on anindustrial scale.

The Centre features state-of-the-art pilot steelmakingfacilities for rapid steel product prototyping and upscaling of novel steel processes.

The Centre combines the expertise of world-leadingscientists, metallurgists and engineers. It has been at theforefront of innovations and process developments inelectric arc steelmaking for over 50 years and isrenowned globally for this expertise. The Centre workswith steel companies worldwide to support thedevelopment and implementation of new processes andtechnologies in electric steelmaking.




Chris McDonald is the Chief Executive Officer of theMaterials Processing Institute, a not-for-profitindustrial research institute, which has beensupporting the materials, processing and energysectors for over 70 years. Chris led the divestmentof the Institute from its then parent company, TataSteel, returning the organisation to independentownership in 2014.

Chris’s background is in industrial research andmanufacturing, where he has workedinternationally. A graduate of CambridgeUniversity, Chris is a Fellow the Institute ofChemical Engineers and of the Institute ofMaterials, Minerals and Mining. He sits onindustrial advisory boards at a number ofuniversities, including Oxford and Sheffield.

Chris has an interest in innovation managementand industry dynamics. He provides expert opinionand support to companies, institutes andgovernment organisations on innovation strategy& management to support growth and inwardinvestment. He is the Innovation Lead for the UKMetals Council, a member of the GreenSteelCouncil and is a member of both the CBI RegionalCouncil and Shadow Monetary Policy Committeefor the North East.

Chris is often called to commentate in the mediaon innovation leadership and the steel industry.

Chris McDonaldChief Executive OfficerMaterials Processing Institute

A member of the CBIRegional Council andthe Innovation Leadfor the UK MetalsCouncil

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The Materials ProcessingInstitute is an independent,and not-for-profit technologyand innovation centre workingwith industry, government andacademia worldwide. Supportranges from small scale, sitebased investigations, throughto long term collaborativeresearch programmes.

The Materials Processing Institute has expertisein materials, materials processing and energy,specialising in challenging processes, particularlythose involving high specification materials, hightemperatures and difficult operating conditions.

The Institute has over 70 years’ experience as aleading UK technology provider. Extensivematerials processing knowledge is supported bystate-of-the-art facilities with a broad range ofequipment, from laboratories through todemonstration, scale-up and production plant.

Scientists and engineers work with industry andapply their expertise to develop and implementrobust solutions to research and developmentand improvements for products and processes.

Expertise is spread across a wide range ofdisciplines, including:

> Materials Characterisation, Research and Development

> Simulation and Design

> Monitoring, Measurement and Control in Hostile Environments

> Process Development and Upscaling

> Specialist Melting and Steel / Alloy Production

> Engineering / Asset Management

> Materials Handling

> Minerals and Ores

Research and project management teamsdeliver support across a wide range ofindustrial and manufacturing sectorsincluding:

> Metals and Metals Manufacture

> Chemicals and Process

> Nuclear

> Oil & Gas

> Energy

> Aerospace and Defence

> Mining and Quarrying



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