Influence of bottom tuyere configuration on bath stirring in a top and bottom combined blown converter

Abstract

Influence of bottom tuyere configuration on bath stirring in top and bottom combined blown converter was investigated with physical modeling experiments by measuring mixing time of bath. The results showed that asymmetric bottom tuyere configurations have shorter bath mixing time than symmetric bottom tuyere configurations due to their better bath stirring effect. Bath oscillation in converters with too high top gas flow rates would deteriorate the bath stirring and prolong the bath mixing time in the case of asymmetric bottom tuyere configurations. The industrial application data indicated that the converter with asymmetric bottom tuyere arrangement showed better metallurgical results at tapping, Average tapping [O]e decreased by 160 ppm and average tapping [C]e×[O]e reduced from 0.0031 to 0.0025. Average tapping (T.Fe)e content in slag decreased by 2.21 %, while average tapping [Mn]e increased by 0.029%. © 2008 ISIJ.