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The Effect of Oxygen Lancing into a Furnace Alloy Tap-Hole: A Computational Case Study for an Open-Bath Furnace

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Abstract

The opening of a furnace tap-hole with an oxygen lance is a complex phenomenon that is not well understood in a quantitative way. By means of a case study, the effect of lancing on flow in and around the tap-hole area at the hot face and potential chemical wear of the refractory material are studied with multiphase fluid flow and thermochemistry models. By decoupling the modelling work into two separate sections, it is possible to obtain more quantitative results on the effect of lancing into process material such as alloy.

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Acknowledgements

The authors also thank the Centre for High Performance Computing (Cape Town) for making resources available for this project. This paper is published by permission of Mintek. Support from SCr for this paper is greatly appreciated.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Materials Science and Metallurgical Engineering, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, 0002, South Africa

    M. W. Erwee & J. H. Zietsman

  2. SamancorCr, Johannesburg, 2196, South Africa

    M. W. Erwee

  3. Pyrometallurgy Division, Mintek, 200 Malibongwe Dr, Randburg, 2194, Gauteng, South Africa

    Q. G. Reynolds

  4. Department of Process Engineering, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, 7602, South Africa

    Q. G. Reynolds

  5. Ex Mente Technologies, Pretoria, 0002, South Africa

    J. H. Zietsman

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  1. M. W. Erwee
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  2. Q. G. Reynolds
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Correspondence to M. W. Erwee.

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Erwee, M.W., Reynolds, Q.G. & Zietsman, J.H. The Effect of Oxygen Lancing into a Furnace Alloy Tap-Hole: A Computational Case Study for an Open-Bath Furnace. JOM 75, 248–253 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11837-022-05571-y

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