Energy Analysis of the Operation of an Electric-Arc Furnace at a Steel Company in Turkey

Abstract

This article reports the results of an energy analysis, based on the first law of thermodynamics, that was performed for an electric-arc furnace (EAF) at a Turkish company. The first step in the analysis was determining the forms in which energy enters the furnace - electrical energy, and chemical energy generated by an exothermic reaction. Then the forms in which energy leaves the furnace were determined: the energy transported out of the EAF by liquid steel, slag, dust, metal particles in the slag, furnace gases, and coolant water. The amounts of heat lost from the EAF and the electrodes by conduction, convection, and radiation were determined by using the appropriate equations in the scientific literature.