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Burden movement in submerged-arc ferromanganese furnaces

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Abstract

The mechanism by which the burden moves in a submerged-arc furnace was investigated in two large industrial furnaces by the stimulus-response technique with a radiotracer input of the radioisotope 59/26Fe as the stimulus. This radioisotope was suitable only for the measurement of residence-time distributions in the alloy phase and the analysis of the experiments was limited to that phase. A composite model to describe the movement of the burden through the furnace was developed by consideration of the mechanism and position of heat generation within the furnace, the inner structure of the furnace, the general form of the measured residence-time distributions, and the mode of burden descent through the furnace. The composite model consisted of a dispersed plug-flow region in the upper regions of the furnace discharging into a constantly stirred tank reactor beneath the electrode tips. Nonlinear regression analysis of the equations developed from the composite model permitted the selection of optimum values of model parameters to give computed curves that approximated to the residence-time distributions. Since the computed results gave realistic values of the model parameters, it was concluded that the model was a valid representation of burden movement through the furnaces. The role of factors such as the position of the radiotracer addition, the energy input to the furnace, the mode of heat distribution in the furnace, and variations in the feed rate of raw materials was analyzed in an attempt to describe the influence of furnace operating conditions on the values of the model parameters.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. TUV Rheinland, Randburg, South Africa

    G. J. Dyason

  2. Department of Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering, University of Nevada, Reno, Nevada

    J. B. See

Authors
  1. G. J. Dyason
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  2. J. B. See
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Additional information

G. J. DYASON, formerly a Graduate Student in the Department of Metallurgy, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.

J. B. SEE, formerly Research Group Leader, Pyrometallurgy Research Group, National Institute for Metallurgy, Johannesburg, South Africa.

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Dyason, G.J., See, J.B. Burden movement in submerged-arc ferromanganese furnaces. Metall Trans B 12, 149–160 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02674768

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