The exponential growth of computing power in the last two decades opens up entirely new options for numerical simulations of the Electric Arc Furnace (EAF). Simulations can be used to analyze physical phenomena resisting direct observation or operational measurement even to this very day. This paper gives an overview of the state-of-the-art of the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulation on the EAF as well as an outlook on future fields of application, while being well aware that by far not all phenomena and literature can be used. The paper makes no claim to exhaustiveness, especially since three subjects of simulation technology have to be excluded: Process models for furnace controlling, stress calculations, electromagnetic simulations. Thus, the focus is on the fluid-and thermo-dynamic furnace processes and on fundamental methods that can be applied to examine these processes. The basic EAF functionalities and selected fluid-dynamic simulations are presented, for example, on multiphase flow, thermal loading of refractory lining and wall panels, chemical reactions and post-combustion, oxygen injection technology, and bottom tapping.
In order to achieve the goal of a massive reduction of CO2-emissions, fossil fuels have to be substituted. In Germany, continuous carburizing furnaces for high capacities are almost exclusively fired by natural gas due to the lower energy costs. Electrical heating and hydrogen combustion are obvious alternatives. While electrical heating elements are state-of-the-art for these types of furnaces, hydrogen combustion has not been investigated. Furthermore, these two alternatives strongly depend on the specific energy mix, which determines the CO2-emissions. This case study compares different process heat generation options for continuous ring hearth furnaces for carburizing automotive steel parts by a quantitative approach. The investigated alternatives are natural gas/air heating as the reference, electrical heating and hydrogen/air heating. Besides the energy balances, primary energy consumption and resulting CO2-emissions are calculated. Furthermore, possible developments until 2050 are analysed. The results show that both alternative cases have a high potential to decrease CO2-emissions which strongly depend on the development of the energy mix and, therefore, the future expansion of renewable energy sources.
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