Electric Arc Furnaces (EAF)
The result of a 100-year history of designing and supplying EAFs, with more than 2,000 references worldwide, make our furnaces the state-of-the-art in electric steelmaking technology.
Overview
An electric arc furnace (EAF) is a furnace that heats material by means of an electric arc, combined with the action of chemical power provided by the use of oxygen and fuel.
In electric arc furnaces, the charged material is directly exposed to an electric arc, and current from the furnace electrodes passes through the charged material. Arc furnaces differ from induction furnaces, in which the charge is instead heated by eddy currents.
Technological development has made it possible to increase the use of power, thus increasing the productivity of the melting unit. At the same time, Tenova, with its long experience in the field, has refined the design of the equipment making the EAF extremely efficient and flexible.
The electric arc furnace is today an equipment capable of melting different charge mixes, from 100% scrap, up to 100% DRI/HBI, passing through all possible combinations between the two extremes, including the use of hot metal.
Technical data
Tenova is able to assist its customers in the entire offer and design phase of the plant, providing a service that translates into a tailor made configuration with respect to the specific needs of each case.
EQUIPMENT & CONFIGURATION
- AC/ DC type furnace
- 5 to 300 and more tons heat size
- 5 to 420 tons per hour productivity
- Full platform / half platform design
- Many layout variants available, to fit different melt shop reality
PROCESS & OPERATION
In Tenova's EAF process, charge materials are top-charged by buckets and melt, in the first stage, by direct energy transfer from the electric arcs and then in the refining and superheating phases by melting by immersion in the liquid bath. The Tenova’s EAF is designed to optimize all the phases of the melting process, allowing to gain the best energy efficiency and the productivity of the melting unit.
- Ultra High Power electric energy supply
- Ultra High Power chemical energy supply
- High flexibility in metallic charge mix (scrap, pig iron, hot metal, HBI/DRI, scrap surrogates, skulls)
- Scrap Tracking System for better control the raw material input
- High melting efficiency
- Low OPEX
- Exceptional reliability: >98% on the whole unit
REFERENCE
Among other references, Tenova is proud to have designed and supplied the most productive DRI-based furnace in the World at Tosyali Iron Steel Industry Algerie SPA.
Innovation
More than 30 years after the first industrial installation, Tenova is enduring an intensive, continuous research activity on the basis of the long-standing experience and engineering expertise developed in the steelmaking sector.
The effort in development process, brings Tenova’s EAF to be the most advanced EAF on the market today, a leadership achieved through the maximum availability, efficient use of energy and raw materials, easy operation and maintenance, and respect for the environment.
The innovation process never stops and touches the system as a whole, from the design of the equipment to the search for ever better performance, from adaptation to increasingly severe operating conditions to integration with modern auxiliary technologies.
The need to adapt to ever new and more stringent operating conditions has made it possible to develop and fine-tune advanced operational control systems, with particular attention to the management of the metallic charge of the furnace – the Tenova Scrap Tracking System – and to the optimization of the melting process.
In this context, attention to safety and the improvement of the working conditions of operators are a fundamental driver for Tenova, as well as the attention and commitment to make the steel industry increasingly green.
Taking into account their great history and experience in plant engineering, Tenova and ABB have become partners creating an innovative technology to further enhance the efficiency of EAF. Thanks to a mutual technological effort and close collaboration, TENOVA and ABB have jointly developed CONSTEERRER™ with the aim of making liquid steel faster, in a safer manner and at lower cost.
Safety
Tenova designs and manufactures its equipment with the utmost attention to safety and reliability:
- Strong and sturdy mechanical construction
- Reliable electrical and automation configuration
- Tenova EAF is the most modern EAF on the market, featuring a unique system designed to allow quick and safe roof centerpiece replacement.
- The water cooling circuits are equipped with TENOVA Safe+ technology for the leakage detection and prevention of damages.
- Tenova No-One-On-The-Floor technologies
- Tenova automatic slag door “scraper”
- Possible closed-design of the control room
- Design and supply safety operation areas around the equipment
Environment
The Tenova’s EAF is the steel melting technology developed according to the most modern and efficient ecological criteria, ready for the energy transition that the steel industry has recently faced.
- combustion of CO in the primary flue gas
- low NOx emissions in the flue gas
- dynamic control and reduction of dioxin/furan emission in flue gas
- use of scrap substitutes
- use of carbon substitutes
- integration with the Tenova iRecovery® energy recovery system
Digital
Digital technologies are changing our world, including the way we make steel. Using technologies like predictive maintenance, industrial Internet of things (IIoT), cloud platforms, augmented reality and artificial intelligence, through a data-driven approach, you can now gain insights into your plant, improve your decision making and optimize your production process.
Tenova is able to provide you with the ultimate technologies in this field to cover a huge variety of applications as you can see in the image below.
With the purpose of making easier the access to these innovations, Tenova has decided to propose them into modular digital packages, each of them focusing on a specific aspect.
These modules can be composed and customized to help you reach your goals.
The target of such solutions is the activation of an overall process of digital transformation in the steel production processes, enabling:
- Staff safety;
- Increase of production efficiency which results in lower OPEX and lower consumption of resources (hence a more environmental conscious production).
- Higher production flexibility;
- Improved planning and optimization of maintenance activities Quicker (and in some cases immediate) response with regards to the services provided;
- Quality and personalization of products;
- Transparency, traceability and sustainability of production processes;
- Staff training
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