Electromagnetic stirring technology for 450t Consteel furnace

Increasing productivity and quality in steel manufacturing using less energy. Philippe Mouls, Sales Manager for Latin America at ABB Metallurgy, explains the electromagnetic stirring solution at Acciaieria Arvedi in Italy.

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In March, CONAC 2023 Steel Industry Congress and Exposition, was held in Monterrey, Mexico. On behalf of ABB Metallurgy, I had the opportunity to present our latest technological accomplishments, comparing computer simulations (CFD) with performance test results for electromagnetic stirring (EMS) application on Acciaeria Arvedi Group’s 450t Consteel furnace project.

Involving some of the top companies and partners from the industry, Arvedi, Interflow, Tenova and ABB, the project has been a key milestone for us. Let’s look at some of the project highlights presented at the congress.

Philippe Mouls, Sales Manager for Latin America at ABB Metallurgy.

Supporting Arvedi’s steel plant, one of the world’s largest electric arc furnaces

The Acciaieria Arvedi Group in Cremona, Italy is one of Europe’s most significant steelmaking plants producing high-quality hot rolled coils via the well-known endless strip processing process (ESP) that consumes less energy. To comply with the higher productivity needs of the recently improved ESP line, Arvedi placed an order in 2018 for a new 450-ton Tenova Consteel® electric arc furnace (EAF) to replace the existing 350-ton Consteel® EAF. 

ABB Metallurgy has long experience in developing electromagnetic products for the metal industries with more than 1900 EMS installations all over the world. The EMS commercial name for a traditional bucket-charged arc furnace is ArcSave®, our flagship product, and the EMS commercial name for Con-steel furnace is Consteerrer®.  
 

ABB’s innovation capabilities and domain expertise have been key for improving furnace performance for over 80 years.

Consteerrer® is an innovative technology developed together by Tenova and ABB. The special feature of the Consteerrer® installation is that the stirring direction is targeted towards or opposite the scrap charging area to increase the scrap melting rate on the side of the furnace. It helps in improving bath temperature homogenization, ensuring stability while producing higher-quality steel. In addition, it ensures low energy consumption and can be customized depending on the size of the furnace with a minimum capacity of 30 tons. ABB has installed the solution in furnaces with diameters 3.7 to 9.2m. The ABB EMS helps the Arvedi furnace, with a diameter of 9.2 m, to reach the record breaking productivity of 412 T/h.

The results of the project have made ArcSave® and Consteerrer® a preferred choice amongst our customers.

Improving furnace performance while reducing its carbon footprint

As a part of the Arvedi project, we have learned that the stirring power has a clear effect on stirring efficiency. The higher the EMS power, the higher the stirring efficiency. Apart from improving furnace performance, Consteerrer® will improve the EAF process and reduce its carbon footprint. The key takeaways from the project are given below:

  • Temperature homogenization time is considerably longer at 447 seconds with 5% EMS and only 113 seconds with 100% EMS
  • The temperature gradient between the furnace bottom and the surface during arc power-on is reduced from 114 oC with 5% of EMS power to 26 oC with 100% EMS
  • The heat flux transferred to the scrap increases with increased EMS stirring power. The average heat flux transferred to the scrap with 100% EMS is 2.7 times higher than that with 5% EMS
  • Consteerrer® stirring improves heat and mass transfer in the EAF process and also reduces energy and electrode consumption, besides increasing productivity.
  • The guaranteed KPIs with EMS are fully achieved in Arvedi's new Consteel® furnace project

Contact me

Want to learn more about how ArcSave® and Consteerer® technology improve energy efficiency and sustainability? Explore ABB EMS solutions here, or email me at Philippe.mouls@br.abb.com.

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