In January 2023, the Energy and Mass Balances group from the Department for Industrial Furnaces and Heat Engineering (IOB) conducted industrial trials on the Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) at Georgsmarienhütte GmbH (GMH) in Georgsmarienhütte.
The tests were organised as a part of the FlexLBO project, a joint initiative between IOB and GMH started in August, 2020 and expected to be completed in 3.5 years. The project aims to reduce both direct and indirect carbon dioxide emissions by the usage of different energy sources in a flexible and efficient way in the arc furnace. Within the project, a model-based tool to aid the selection of an appropriate operating mode for each individual batch of the metal scrap will be developed.
In addition to the implementation of the online model, the FlexLBO project aims to investigate and optimize the gas phase, including the burner and post-combustion, using CFD simulations. This will ensure efficient operation, irrespective of deviations from the implemented operating mode. Furthermore, longer-term approaches using hydrogen burners will also be studied and evaluated using the developed simulation models.
In order to validate the results of the model created, department employees Siddharth Nachankar, Alexander Reinicke and Lilly Schüttensack carried out initial operational runs of the EAF with adjusted process parameters at the GMH site in Georgsmarienhütte. The testing was supervised with the help of two GMH representatives, namely Dr. Sami Elsabagh and Dipl.-Ing. Riadh Omri. The trials conducted on site contribute to the achievement of the project objective: With the implementation of the online EAF model at the GMH site, valuable data and insights could be gained. These are now being evaluated and used as a basis for planning further trails this year.
The department would like to thank Dr. Sami Elsabagh and Dipl.-Ing. Riadh Omri for their co-operation throughout the industrial visit.