What If We Tilt the AOD? : Developing a numerical and physical model of a downscaled AOD converter to investigate flow behaviour when applying an inclination.

Sammanfattning: In a scrap based stainless steel plant the dominant process for carbon reduction is the Argon oxygen decarburisation process (AOD). The process goes through three steps: decarburisation, reduction and desulphurisation where the main challenge is to oxidise carbon to CO without oxidising the expensive chromium. The general practical approach is to inject a mixture of oxygen and an inert gas, like argon or nitrogen, through tuyeres at the converter side starting with a high amount of oxygen gas which followingly is reduced as the inert gas is increased during the decarburisation steps. This allows for a decrease in partial pressure for the CO bubbles which is thermodynamically favourable for carbon oxidation. Recent studies have shown that an aged AOD converter with a worn lining can decarburise the melt faster than a fresh vessel due to favourable thermodynamic conditions occurring since the bath height is lower in the aged converter. The studies show 8-10% savings of oxygen gas which have led to an interest to study the matter. One of two approaches are taken in the present work with the focus to develop a numerical model that simulates a downscaled AOD converter with applied inclinations that is to be validated through physical modelling. A 75-ton industrial converter was downscaled for water-air experiments where three inclination angles namely 0, 5.5 and 14° were studied with focus on mixing time and penetration length. The physical model was replicated for computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modelling using the Euler-Euler approach in ANSYS Fluent. The models show rather good similarities when comparing gas penetration length, flow structure and mixing time however needs some complementary work and final adjustments before upscaling as well as coupling with thermodynamic modelling can be done.