Electroslag remelting process

Process description

Electro-slag re-melting produces steel with a high purity and precise, flawless structure. A solid raw steel block is slowly fed into a hot slag bath (1500°C).  An arc is ignited between the steel block and the slag bath. As a result, the steel block melts and drips through the slag, leaving impurities such as sulphur and non-metallic residues in the slag. After solidification of the drops, a purified, re-melted steel block is formed under the slag.

In the pressurised electro-slag re-melting process (DESU), in addition to the slag, an inert gas provides protection from oxidation.  

Oxipyr burner for block pre-heating

The raw steel block needs to be pre-heated before the actual re-melting process. The oxyfuel burner is an energy efficient solution for this application.   

Application example of Oxipyr burner for block pre-heating

This example compares data from oxyfuel processes and electrical preheating. The specified costs include equipment and wear parts

Gas Application

• Oxyfuel-process for block pre-heating 
• Addition of inert gas during DESU process

In the oxyfuel process, the combustion processes are carried out by means of an oxygen burner (oxy-fuel burner), which is operated with pure oxygen or with oxygen-enriched air as oxidant. Messer has developed the Oxipyr burner family for this purpose. Compared to burners that use air as an oxidant, oxy-fuel burners have a number of process technology advantages:

Advantages:

• Higher combustion efficiency
• Higher melting performance
• Faster heating-up times
• Lower fuel consumption
• Higher processing temperatures possible
• Faster reaction speeds
• Lower exhaust gas levels
• Less dust
• Lower emissions
• Lower production costs

Messer SOlution

In addition to the gases required for your process, Messer offers a variety of equipment for its optimisation under the brand names Oxipyr and Oxijet. 

In order to select the optimum system, experts from Messer first carry out a comprehensive process analysis. Following calculations and basic engineering, suggestions are made for optimisation and further procedures.

Oxipyr – Burner Technology

The characteristics of the burner types are multi-faceted and range from low to high momentum burners, oxyfuel to oxygen/air mixing burners and burners for different fuels or fuel combinations. The systems are controlled manually, semi- or fully automatically following compositions or temperature.