Comparison of advantages and disadvantages of electric arc furnace and converter steelmaking

(1) Electric arc furnace

     Advantages: secondary use of scrap steel alloy elements, arc high temperature can melt refractory alloy elements, can accurately control the furnace temperature. According to the foregoing, the electric arc furnace uses scrap steel as the main raw material, so the electric arc furnace steelmaking can reuse the alloy elements in the scrap steel; The temperature in the zone is above 3000 ℃, which enables the electric arc furnace to smelt refractory alloy elements; at the same time, the temperature inside the furnace is controlled by precisely adjusting the current size. The electric arc furnace can accurately control the temperature of the molten steel for a long time; the electric arc furnace process is flexible and can meet the requirements of small smelting. Batch / multi-species special steel.

      Disadvantages: The quality of molten steel is greatly affected by scrap steel, the smelting period is longer, and the power consumption is larger. According to the above, the electric arc furnace uses scrap steel as the main raw material. During the smelting process, more impurities may be introduced into the molten steel, resulting in low quality of the molten steel; according to our "Carbon Industry Special Report" released on June 25, 2017 One: Carbon for Iron and Steel (I)-New electric furnaces are put into operation to drive the demand for graphite electrodes, technological progress and concentration increase help long-term development. In-depth report, the average tapping time of the fourth generation electric furnaces currently widely used is 55 ~ 60 minutes The smelting cycle is longer than that of converter steelmaking; the power consumption is 500kWh / t, which puts a greater pressure on the power supply pressure of the local power grid.

(2) Converter

      Advantages: higher purity of molten steel, shorter smelting period, and lower power consumption. According to the foregoing, the converter uses hot metal produced by the blast furnace as the main raw material, so the steel purity of the converter steelmaking is higher and the impurity alloy elements are less; the converter steelmaking process is completely dependent on the chemical and physical heat brought by the oxidation of the hot metal. External energy input, so the power consumption is low; the smelting cycle is 20 ~ 30 minutes, which is shorter than the electric arc furnace steelmaking smelting cycle, and the production rhythm is faster.

     Disadvantages: The lower furnace temperature is not suitable for melting refractory alloy elements, the larger the furnace capacity, the less flexible the process. The converter steelmaking process is entirely based on the chemical and physical heat brought by the oxidation of molten iron, without external energy input, so the converter furnace temperature is usually below 2000 ℃, not suitable for smelting refractory alloy elements;