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Numerical Investigation of Desulfurization Kinetics in Gas-Stirred Ladles by a Quick Modeling Analysis Approach

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Abstract

A quick modeling analysis approach for predicting the slag-steel reaction and desulfurization kinetics in argon gas-stirred ladles has been developed in this study. The model consists of two uncoupled components: (i) a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model for predicting the fluid flow and the characteristics of slag-steel interface, and (ii) a multicomponent reaction kinetics model for calculating the desulfurization evolution. The steel-slag interfacial area and mass transfer coefficients predicted by the CFD simulation are used as the processing data for the reaction model. Since the desulfurization predictions are uncoupled from the CFD simulation, the computational time of this uncoupled predictive approach is decreased by at least 100 times for each case study when compared with the CFD-reaction kinetics fully coupled model. The uncoupled modeling approach was validated by comparing the evolution of steel and slag compositions with the experimentally measured data during ladle metallurgical furnace (LMF) processing at Nucor Steel Tuscaloosa, Inc. Then, the validated approach was applied to investigate the effects of the initial steel and slag compositions, as well as different types of additions during the refining process on the desulfurization efficiency. The results revealed that the sulfur distribution ratio and the desulfurization reaction can be promoted by making Al and CaO additions during the refining process. It was also shown that by increasing the initial Al content in liquid steel, both Al oxidation and desulfurization rates rapidly increase. In addition, it was found that the variation of the initial Si content in steel has no significant influence on the desulfurization rate. Lastly, if the initial CaO content in slag is increased or the initial Al2O3 content is decreased in the fluid-slag compositional range, the desulfurization rate can be improved significantly during the LMF process.

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Abbreviations

\( \varepsilon \) :

Specific stirring energy (W/t)

\( k_{\text{m}} \) :

Kinetic constant (s−1)

h :

Injection depth of argon gas (m)

h v :

Steel depth (m)

\( d_{\text{v}} \) :

Diameter of the steel bath (m)

\( Q \) :

Gas flow rate (Nm3/min)

R :

Gas constant (8.314 J/(K·mol))

\( T \) :

Steel temperature (K)

\( T_{\text{n}} \) :

Argon gas temperature (K)

\( W_{\text{m}} \) :

Weight of the molten steel (t)

\( P_{0} \) :

Atmospheric pressure (Pa)

\( P_{\text{bottom}} \) :

Pressure at the bottom of the ladle (Pa)

\( A_{\text{top}} \) :

Area of the top surface

\( N \) :

Number of porous plugs

\( M \) :

Elements [Al], [Si], [Mn], [Fe], and [S] in steel

\( MO_{\text{n}} \) :

Oxides in slag

\( \left[ {{\text{wt}}\;{\text{pct}}\;M} \right] \) :

Mass fraction of elements M in liquid steel

\( \left( {{\text{wt}}\;{\text{pct }}MO_{\text{n}} } \right) \) :

Mass fraction of species \( MO_{\text{n}} \) in slag

\( M_{\text{M}} \) :

Atomic weight of M (g/mol)

\( M_{{{\text{MO}}_{n} }} \) :

Molecular weight of MOn (g/mol)

\( J_{\text{M}} \) :

Molar flux density (kmol/(m2·s))

\( m_{\text{m}} \) :

Mass transfer coefficient of species in liquid steel (m/s)

\( m_{\text{s}} \) :

Mass transfer coefficient of species in slag (m/s)

\( m_{\text{eff,M}} \) :

Overall mass transfer coefficient of species (m/s)

\( \rho_{\text{m}} \) :

Density of liquid steel (kg/m3)

\( \rho_{\text{s}} \) :

Density of slag (kg/m3)

\( A \) :

Interfacial area between slag and steel phases (m2)

\( V \) :

Steel volume in the interfacial region (m3)

\( V_{\text{m}} \) :

Total steel volume (m3)

\( V_{\text{s}} \) :

Total slag volume (m3)

\( L_{\text{M}} \) :

Interfacial distribution ratio of element M at equilibrium

\( K_{\text{M}} \) :

Equilibrium constant

\( V_{\text{M}} \) :

Removal rate of elements M in steel (wt pct/s)

D m :

Diffusion coefficient of species in liquid steel (m2/s)

D s :

Diffusion coefficient of species in slag (m2/s)

\( \varepsilon_{\text{l}} \) :

Turbulent energy dissipation rate (m2/s3)

\( \nu \) :

Kinematic viscosity (m2/s)

\( a_{i} \) :

Activity of species i in liquid steel

\( \gamma_{i} \) :

Activity coefficient of the oxides in slag

\( C_{\text{S}} \) :

Sulfide capacity

\( f_{\text{S}} \) :

Activity coefficient of sulfur in liquid steel

\( a_{\text{O}}^{*} \) :

Activity of oxygen at slag-steel interface

\( {{\varLambda }} \) :

Optical basicity of slag

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, The University of Alabama, Box 870202, Tuscaloosa, AL, 35487, USA

    Qing Cao & Laurentiu Nastac

  2. Nucor Steel Tuscaloosa, Inc, Tuscaloosa, AL, 35404, USA

    April Pitts-Baggett & Qiulin Yu

Authors
  1. Qing Cao
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  2. Laurentiu Nastac
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  3. April Pitts-Baggett
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  4. Qiulin Yu
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Correspondence to Laurentiu Nastac.

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Manuscript submitted August 21, 2017.

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Cao, Q., Nastac, L., Pitts-Baggett, A. et al. Numerical Investigation of Desulfurization Kinetics in Gas-Stirred Ladles by a Quick Modeling Analysis Approach. Metall Mater Trans B 49, 988–1002 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11663-018-1234-7

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