Optimising steel production in electric arc furnaces

The present paper deals with the recent achievements through the use of an Expert System, installed on the two Electric Arc Furnaces at Riva, Verona. This system, by using continuous extraction and EAF off-gas analysis, combined with process monitoring, optimises the chemical energy use. The electric steelmaking process based on Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) uses a large amount of chemical energy, particularly during the melting phase. In order to optimise the EAF environmental performances, the implementation of this technology has allowed to achieve not only electrical energy saving but also natural gas, oxygen and carbon consumption reduction, reduction that have led to increase productivity as well as to decrease conversion costs