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Process Metallurgy – Steelmaking

Optimal Mixing Effect of LF Bottom-Blown Stirring by Two Nozzles

Min Chen1), Nan Wang1), Yongkuan Yao2), Jianlin Geng2), Kunxiang Xiong2)

1)
School of Materials and Metallurgy, Northeastern University, China
2)
Nanjing Iron & Steel Group Co. Ltd, China

The mixing behaviour in a 150t ladle furnace induced by two-nozzle jetting was investigated on the basis of a water model simulation of 1:4.
The effects of nozzle arrangements, including separation angle, radial position and asymmetry as well as tracer adding position, on the mix-
ing time were studied. The most favourable mixing was achieved when the two nozzles were symmetrically arranged at half radii in the la-
dle, with 45o separation angle. The empirical relationship between the mixing time and stirring power intensity was established for two-nozzle
jetting based on the present experimental results. In addition, the swelling above the bath surface was also investigated with the two-nozzle
jetting.

Keywords: ladle furnace, water model, two-nozzle jetting, nozzle arrangement, separation angle

Introduction larity theory, the flow rate of bottom-blown gas in the mod-
el can be determined by ensuring that the modified Froude
Ladle refining by gas stirring has attracted increasing at- number between the water model and full scale is equal,
tention due to its many advantages such as speeding up the that is
reaction between metal and slag and promoting homoge-
nization of temperature and chemical composition of (Fr  )m = (Fr  ) p (1)
molten steel. The refining efficiency of ladle furnaces is
greatly influenced by the stirring effect through bottom- Namely,
blown gas, which is influenced by the optimized design of
nozzle arrangement and selection of gas flow rate. (ρg )m u 2m (ρg ) p u 2p
In the steelmaking process, especially for large-scale la-  =   (2)
g Hm (ρl )m − (ρg )m g Hp (ρl ) p − (ρg ) p
dle furnaces, bottom-blown gas stirring by multi-nozzle
equipment has been used to improve the stirring condition,
desulphurization reaction and inclusion removal [1-2]. Up where u is the superficial velocity, H is the height of the
to now, many studies have investigated the mixing of ladle bath; ρl , ρg are the density of liquid and gas, respectively;
stirred with dual plugs [3-8]. M. Y. Zhu et al. [4] mathe- g is gravity acceleration, m means water model and p full
matically studied the effect of nozzle placement on the bath scale.
mixing stirred by double tuyeres and found that the shortest The superficial velocity is given by
mixing time was obtained when the two tuyeres were 4Q g
placed opposite at half radii. L. F. Zhang [6] numerically u= (3)
πd 2
simulated the fluid flow stirred by one or two air jets and
the calculation indicated that the distance of the two nozzles where Qg is the gas flow rate and d the diameter of the noz-
had a big effect on the fluid flow behaviour. J. Mandal [7] zle.
experimentally investigated the mixing and correlation for Combining Eqs. (2) and (3) gives
ladles stirred with dual porous plugs located diametrically
(ρg )m (Q 2g )m (ρg ) p (Q 2g ) p
opposite at ±R/2.  =  
In spite of the above studies, it is still useful to carry out g Hm dm4 (ρl )m − (ρg )m g Hp d p4 (ρl ) p − (ρg ) p
a comprehensive study on the stirring behaviour by dual (4)
nozzles, especially including the different separation angles
and distances of the two nozzles. In the present work, water Substituting the related parameters into Eq. (4), the fol-
model investigation of the stirring behaviour by two-nozzle lowing equation can be used to determine the gas flow rate
jetting was performed, focusing on the effects of separation in the water model.
angles between the two nozzles, radial distance of every
nozzle from the centre and tracer adding position on the (Q g )m
=
mixing character. In addition, the variation regulation of (Q g ) p
swelling above the bath surface under the condition of dif-         (5)
ferent thickness of top slag was also examined, so as to dm 4 Hm (ρl )m (ρg ) p pm Tp
achieve optimum processing. dp HP (ρl ) p (ρg )m pp Tm

Experimental The main parameters in the present work are shown in

Table 1.
Similarity consideration. In a gas stirred system, the flu-
id flow and mixing of bath are caused by the momentum Experimental set-up. As illustrated in Figure 1, the ex-
transfer between blown gas and liquid. According to simi- perimental set-up consists of three parts: the supplying sys-

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tem of bottom-blown gas (indicated by the numbers 6 to 10

in the figure), a vessel made of acrylic glass containing tap
water (4, 5 in Fig. 1) and the data collecting and processing
system (1, 2 and 3 in Fig. 1). Air was injected into the bath
through the two nozzles located at the bottom of the vessel.
The tracer employed was aqueous sodium chloride solution
with a concentration of 250g NaCl/l. The change of local
electrical conductivity in the bath after the addition of satu-
rated NaCl solution was measured by an electrical conduc-
tivity probe placed 25mm away both from the bottom and
side wall. Mixing time is considered as the time when the
variations of conductivity were less than +5% from the
steady state. Figure 1. Set-up of bottom-blown stirring experiment. 1–Data pro-
cessing, 2–Electrical conductivity measurer, 3–Probe, 4–Acrylic
Experimental procedures. The two nozzles in the proto- glass vessel, 5–Tap water, 6–Flow rate meter, 7–Pressure meter,
type ladle were originally placed at the bottom, with 90° 8–Air container, 9–Valve, 10–Air compressor.
separation angle, spacing 0.79R and 0.67R away from the
centre, respectively. In order to achieve rapid mixing to
promote metal/slag interaction, the effects of separation an-
gles between the two nozzles (15o, 30o, 45o, 60o, 90o, 120o,
135o), radial positions (1/2R, 2/3R, 3/4R) and asymmetry of
nozzle layout on the bath mixing were investigated for the
water model, as shown in Table 2 and Figure 2 separately.
Thus, the optimized nozzle arrangement can be determined.
Two cases of tracer adding positions for 45o and 90o noz-
zle separation angles were studied, respectively. In case A
the adding position was on the top of one nozzle and in case
B the tracer was added between the two nozzles.
Swelling above the bath surface in the ladle furnace can
be caused by the upward flowing stream, and the peak
height of swelling has appreciable influence on some oper-
ations during refining processes, such as the controlling of Figure 2. Sketch of the nozzle arrangement including nozzle sepa-
electrode height. In this work, mixed oil (μ=0.124Pa·s, ration angles and radii.
ρ=821kg·m-3) was employed to simulate the top slag. The
peak height variations of swelling with gas flow rate were Table 1. Main parameters in the water model and full-scale equip-
investigated for different top slag thicknesses. ment.

Experimental Results and Discussion

Effect of nozzle arrangement on the mixing in ladle

furnace. Figure 3 shows the variation of mixing time in the
ladle furnace with gas flow rate on the conditions of differ-
ent nozzle separation angles but fixed radial position, 1/2R
for both nozzles. It can be found that better mixing is
achieved for those nozzle arrangements with smaller sepa-
ration angles than with larger ones. Figure 4 shows the ef-
fect of nozzle radial positions on the mixing time. A short-
er mixing time is obtained with 1/2R radial position for both
nozzles compared to 2/3R or 3/4R. For the bottom-blown
stirring by two nozzles, the “intersecting clash”
between flowing fluid could be caused due to the
Table 2. Nozzle arrangement in the water model experiments.
mutual counteraction in the common two-phase
zone between the two jets, resulting in the loss of
a part of kinetic energy [5]. This tendency can be
reduced to a lower level with smaller separation
angles and shorter distance between the two noz-
zles, and a larger two-phase zone is formed
through mutual suction between the two jets.
Consequently, better utilization of kinetic energy
is realized.

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Effect of asymmetry of nozzle layout on the mixing.

For the fixed separation angle of 45° between the two noz-
zles, the effect of asymmetric layouts of nozzle radial posi-
tion ((1/2R, 2/3R); (2/3R, 3/4R); (1/2R, 3/4R)) on the bath
mixing was investigated and compared with a symmetric
layout (1/2R, 1/2R), as shown in Figure 5. It is obvious that
a better mixing effect is achieved for symmetric nozzle lay-
out, and in addition, a shorter distance between the two
nozzles can generate a better mixing situation.

Effect of tracer adding position on the mixing. Figure 6

shows the effect of tracer adding position on the mixing.
For the separation angle of 45o, shorter mixing times are ob-
tained in case B, while better mixing results are achieved in
case A for the separation angle 90o.

Optimized nozzle arrangement. Based on the experi-

Figure 3. Effect of nozzle separation angle on the mixing in ladle. mental results, the most favourable mixing is achieved
when the two nozzles are symmetrically arranged at half
radii on the bottom of the ladle and with 45° separation an-
gle. For this nozzle arrange-
ment, the mean energy dissipa-
tion rate is maximum, and thus
the best mixing of the bath is
obtained [6]. Figure 7 gives the
comparison between the origi-
nal and optimized nozzle
arrangement. The stirring effect
has been greatly improved with
the optimized nozzle arrange-
ment, and the mixing time has
been shortened by approximate-
ly 30% compared to the original
arrangement. In the bottom-
blown stirring system, bath
mixing mainly depends on the
Figure 4. Effect of radial position of nozzles on the mixing behaviour in a ladle for different sepa- agitation intensity and usually
ration angles (a) 45o and (b) 90o. the mixing power intensity is

Figure 5. Mixing time for symmetric and asymmetric layout of the Figure 6. Effect of tracer adding position on the mixing time.
nozzles.

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Process Metallurgy – Steelmaking

used to express the relationship with mixing time. In the

present experiment, the empirical relation between stirring
power intensity ε and mixing time τm for the two nozzle jet-
ting is expressed as the following.

τm = 5.56 + 41.2 exp(−0.25ε) (6)

Variation of swelling peak height. In the bottom-blown

ladle furnace, the ascending bubbles from the injected gas
cause an upward flowing stream and consequently swelling
above the bath surface due to the transformation of motion
energy to potential energy [9]. Thus, the swelling peak
height is mainly determined by the superficial velocity of
the ascending stream, namely, gas flow rate. Figure 8 illus-
trates the variation of peak height with gas flow rate for dif-
ferent thickness of top slag. It is found that the swelling
Figure 7. Comparison of mixing effect between original and opti-
peak height increases with the increment of gas flow rate, mized nozzle arrangement.
but there is apparently no relationship between the peak
height and thickness of top slag. The smallest peak height is
observed for 25mm top slag, while almost the same peak
heights occur for 30mm and 35mm, respectively. These re-
sults can be explained as follows: the swelling formation
above the bath surface is suppressed by the top slag and a
smaller peak height is formed; on the other hand, the sprawl
of swelling to the surrounding fluid is also hindered by the
top slag which makes the swelling to be much higher.

Plant Tests on Industrial Scale. A plant test on industri-

al scale was arranged in the 150t ladle furnace in the steel-
making plant of Nanjing Iron & Steel Company, China, to
compare the refining difference between the original and
optimized nozzle arrangement. During the process, the sam-
ples were taken for the original and the optimized two-
nozzle arrangement at the end of LF refining, to make an
analysis including the composition of molten steel and
desulphurization rate of LF refining.
It can be noted in Table 3 that with the application of the
Figure 8. Variation of swelling peak height with gas flow rate.
optimized nozzle arrangement, the composition fluctuation
of carbon and silicon in molten steel was reduced from
0.099% and 0.05% to 0.03% and 0.02%, respectively. The
composition homogenization of molten steel was improved
remarkably. Figure 9 shows the distribution of the desul- The arrangement of the two nozzles has an appreciable
phurization rates obtained in LF refining with original and effect on the stirring behaviour in ladle furnaces. The mix-
optimized nozzle arrangement, respectively. Fifty heats of ing time with the optimized arrangement has been short-
LF refining were tested on industrial scale. It can be seen ened by approximately 30% compared to the original
that the heats with higher desulphurization rate increased arrangement.
for the optimized nozzle arrangement – e.g. the heats with The most favourable nozzle arrangement for a 150t ladle
65% desulphurization rate increased from 15 to 28. The av- furnace with two-nozzle injection is when the two nozzles
erage desulphurization rate increased
from 62.9% to 63.8%, which proved
that better stirring was realized with the
optimized nozzle arrangement. Table 3. Composition of molten steel after LF with original and optimized nozzle
arrangement.
Conclusions

The bottom-blown stirring ladle fur-

nace with two-nozzle jetting has been
studied on the basis of a water model
and the conclusions are summarized as
follows.

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Process Metallurgy – Steelmaking

are symmetrically arranged in the ladle at half radii, with

45o separation angle.
For two-nozzle injection, better stirring is achieved with
smaller nozzle separation angles (15o, 30o, 45o) than with
larger ones (60o, 90o 120o, 135o), and 1/2R radial position
of the two nozzles generates a much better mixing than
2/3R and 3/4R arrangement.
Better mixing effects are achieved for symmetric nozzle
layout than for asymmetric layout.
For two-nozzle injection, an empirical relationship for
mixing time in the ladle furnace has been established.
Plant tests on industrial scale proved that better stirring
can be achieved with optimized nozzle arrangement.
(a) (A2006093; submitted on 30 March 2006,
accepted in revised form on 4 October 2006)

(b)
Figure 9. Number of heats with measured desulphurization rates
using (a) Original nozzle arrangement. (b) Optimized nozzle
arrangement.
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