FULL PAPER

www.steel-research.de

Analyses and Calculation of Steel Scrap Melting in a

Multifunctional Hot Metal Ladle
Shuai Deng, Anjun Xu,* Guang Yang, and Hongbing Wang

To increase the scrap ratio, extensive

To improve the utilization of steel scrap in the steel production process, the studies have been conducted on the melting
authors analyze the feasibility of adding scrap steel into the multifunctional of steel scrap. Some relevant theoretical
ladle before hot metal tapping. Firstly, the authors provide an overview of the papers[4–7] focused on the mechanisms of
the different stages of scrap melting and the
process. Secondly, theoretically study the melting process of scrap steel in
impact of cold materials on it; Asai[4] studied
the ladle along with the scrap steel melting mechanism is done. Finally, the the effects of temperature and carbon
effects of the addition of different types of scrap steel pretreated at various content on the steel scrap melting, Oeters[5]
temperatures are examined using numerical calculation and simulation. The provided a thorough analysis of its dynam-
preheating temperature and specific surface area of the scrap steel had ics, and Szekely[6] investigated the heat and
mass transfer phenomena involved. On the
important effects on scrap steel melting. For the scrap steel with a specific
other hand, there are also some experimen-
surface area of 1.6 m2 t
1, the melting rate decreased by 4 min t
1 as the tal studies,[8–12] mostly on the melting time
preheating temperature was increased from 300  C to 800  C. For a preheat- of steel scraps of different sizes, shapes,
ing temperature of 800  C, the melting rate increased by 4.5 min t
1 as the temperatures, and oxidation levels; Pehlke[8]
specific surface area increased from 3.3 to 26.1 m2 t
1. Another 2.2%–6% of studied the melting rate of steel rods scraps
scrap steel can be added under certain conditions. This approach provides an at 1300–1650  C and Li investigated their
melting with different sizes, shapes, and
effective solution to the problem of melting large amounts of scrap steel in
preheating temperatures in molten baths at
steel works, further increases the utilization of scrap steel during steel 1650  C. Numerical simulations were also
production, and reduces the cost of steel production. conducted[13–15] on the heat transfer state of
steel scrap melting to find ways for melting
more scraps; Kumar[15] developed a turbu-
lent flow model, a scrap melting model and a
chemical reaction model for the scrap
1. Introduction melting. Other researches[16–19] explored the patterns of the
melting time of steel scrap in different proportions through
As important raw materials in steel production, iron ore and industrial experiments.
scrap steel have critical effects on the development of the iron Additional studies have predicted the amount of scrap that
and steel industry. Unlike iron ore, which is a limited natural will be available in the future along with the demand for scrap in
resource, scrap steel is a renewable resource that can be recycled. China. [20–22] Currently, most scrap used in domestic steel mills
Thus, increasing the utilization of scrap steel can save resources, is light and thin in China. These scrap steels are easy to melt but
make production more sustainable, and reduce the emissions of must be purchased. The scrap produced by steel mills is
carbon [1] and harmful gases such as NOx, all of which are primarily billet cutting material with a decent composition.
beneficial economically and environmentally. Each ton of crude However, this scrap is thick and intermediate in size, making it
steel produced from scrap instead of iron ore reduces iron relatively difficult to melt. The amount of scrap in China is
ore consumption by 4.3 tons, smelting energy consumption by predicted to increase gradually in the near future. Thus, the
60%, water consumption by 40%, exhaust emissions by 86%, problem of excess scrap will become more pressing. To increase
sewage emissions by 76%, and waste production by 97%.[2,3] the utilization of scrap steel, researchers have proposed adding
scrap into the multifunctional ladle (hereinafter referred to as
“ladle”) in steel mills. This paper evaluates the potential and
Prof. A. Xu, Dr. S. Deng, Dr. G. Yang likely challenges of this approach.
School of Metallurgical and Ecological Engineering
University of Science and Technology Beijing
Beijing 100083, P. R. China
E-mail: anjunxu@126.com 2. Process of Adding Scrap into the Ladle
Prof. H. Wang
School of Computer and Communication Engineering 2.1. Main Process
University of Science and Technology Beijing
Beijing 100083, P. R. China Scrap consumption depends primarily on the conventional blast
DOI: 10.1002/srin.201800435 furnace-converter (BF-BOF) route and electric arc furnace production

steel research int. 2018, 1800435 1800435 (1 of 10) © 2018 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim
www.advancedsciencenews.com
(EAF) route. The EAFroute is more controllable thanthe conventional
BF-BOF route. Therefore, scrap consumption is limited, and
procedures such as baking and preheating are required. [23,24] In
the existing ironmaking–steelmaking interface transportation modes
of various steel mills, the multifunctional ladle [25] does not need to
ladle-to-ladle, and is also suitable for adding scrap.
The specific scheme is shown in Figure 1. After the molten
iron in the ladle is added to the BOF, the scrap is added directly
into the ladle with the steel crane in steel mills or steel grasping
machine. The ladle is then returned to the baking site of the iron
mill for baking and scrap preheating. After the iron has been
preheated to a certain temperature (above 300  C), go to the blast
furnace taphole to wait for hot metal tapping. The scrap in the
ladle is then melted by the thermal energy and kinetic energy
of the high-temperature molten iron. The ability to add scrap into
the ladle depends on whether its addition has adverse effects
on the production process. These effects can be analyzed in
terms of time and temperature.
2.2. Analysis of the Effects of Adding Scrap
Based on the steel production process and the on-site situation,
the advantages and disadvantages of adding scrap into ladle were
analyzed. The advantages include:
(1) The heat of molten iron is fully utilized, reducing the heat
dissipation of molten iron.
(2) The scrap absorbs the kinetic energy of molten iron, which
reduces the erosion of the bottom of the ladle by molten iron
during the iron picking-up process in the blast furnace, thus
extending the lifetime of the ladle, and accelerates the
melting rate of scrap. [26]
(3) The total scrap ratio of the steel production process is
increased, and the overall cost is reduced.
(4) Solve the problem that a large amount of medium-sized
shredded scraps produced by steel mills are difficult to melt.
Figure 1. Schematic showing the process of adding scrap to the ladle.
steel research int. 2018, 1800435 1800435 (2 of 10)
www.steel-research.de
Problems that arise from adding scrap into the ladle include:
(1) The operation of adding scrap to the ladle is increased,
resulting in the increasing dispatching task of the overhead
crane.
(2) Except for the very small addition amount of scrap, all ladle
need to be baked online [27] to improve the thermal state of
the ladle, [28,29] synchronously, prompting the scrap to reach
a sufficient preheating temperature.
(3) The slow or incomplete melting of scrap affects the
pretreatment of molten iron.
To demonstrate the advantages and assess the problems
created by adding scrap to the ladle during steel production and
offer corresponding solutions, this scheme, theoretical and
numerical calculate and simulations were carried out. All
calculations were based on a 300 ton ladle in a steel mill.
3. Theoretical Evaluation of Scrap Melting in a
Ladle
3.1. Determination of the Heat Transfer Coefficient of Scrap
Scrap melting in a ladle is affected by the temperature, surface
heat transfer coefficient and other factors in accordance with
Newton’s law of cooling:
q ¼ h  ΔT ð1Þ
where q is the heat flux density; h is the heat transfer coefficient;
and ΔT is the temperature difference.
The heat transfer coefficient is critical to study for the
thermodynamic process of scrap melting in molten iron. The
Reynolds number (Re) and the Prandtl number (Pr) are, respectively,
defined as
© 2018 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim
www.advancedsciencenews.com
ρl ud
Re ¼ ð2Þ
μ for a while, the scrap is completely immersed in the molten iron
and
ν μcp1
Pr ¼ ¼ ð3Þ
α k
where ρl is the density of molten iron; u is the velocity of molten
iron; d is the diameter of the column of molten iron; ν is the
kinematic viscosity; α is the thermal diffusion coefficient; μ is the
dynamic viscosity; cp1 is the specific heat capacity of molten iron;
and k is the thermal conductivity. Assuming that the taphole of the
blast furnace is 6 m away from the bottom of the ladle, the u of iron
impacting the bottom of the ladle is approximately 11 m s
1, and
the diameter of the column of molten iron is 0.08 m. The physical
parameters of the molten iron and scrap are shown in Table 1.
The impact of molten iron on scrap belongs to forced-convection
heat transfer with Reynolds number Re  7:9  105, which meets
the applicable range of Dittus–Boelter heat transfer experimental
correlation. [30,31] The heat transfer coefficient of molten iron and
scrap is jointly determined using the Nusselt number:
Nu ¼ 0:023Re0:8 Pr 0:33 ct ð4Þ
and
hL
Nu ¼ ð5Þ
k depending on the thickness and the heat transfer coefficient
where L is the characteristic length of heat transfer surface, that
is, the thickness of scrap steel here. Because the average
temperature of molten iron and the surface temperature of
scrap steel is greater than the applicable temperature value of
experimental correlations, the method of introducing tempera-
ture difference correction coefficient is used for correction; when
 0:25
fluid is cooled, the correction coefficient ct ¼ ηf =ηw , ηf is
the dynamic viscosity of fluid calculated based on the average
temperature of fluid, ηw is the dynamic viscosity of fluid
calculated on the basis of the average temperature of wall
surface, In combination with the temperature of scrap steel and
molten iron, the correction coefficient ct ¼ 0:95 here according
to the reference [32].
Based on Equations. (1)–(5), the following expression for the
heat transfer coefficient can be obtained:
0:023ðρudÞ0:8 cp1 0:33 ct k0:67
h¼ ð6Þ
μ0:47 L
The heat transfer of scrap in the ladle can be divided into two
parts: the direct effect of the molten iron column on the scrap at
Table 1. Thermophysical parameters of molten iron and scrap.
Type Temperature/ C Density/t  m
3 Specific heat/J  [kg   C]
1
Molten iron 1380–1450 7.0
Scrap 300–800 7.85
steel research int. 2018, 1800435 1800435 (3 of 10)
www.steel-research.de
the initial hot metal tapping time; and after the hot metal tapping
and heat transfer is carried through. According to Equation (6),
the surface heat transfer coefficient h1 at the time of impact with
molten iron is approximately 5–11 W/(m2  K), For the surface
heat transfer coefficient h2 after immersion into the molten iron,
a lot of research[4–7] has been done in the literature; in
combination with the research object in this paper, the value
range is 2–6 W/(m2  K). This indicates that the heat transfer
when the molten iron is directly impacting the scrap is 2–3 times
greater than when the scrap is immersed in the molten iron.
3.2. Analysis of the Scrap Melting Process
The scrap melting mechanism is known to be complicated.
Previous studies suggest that the scrap melting process can be
divided into four phases[4–7]:
1) A solidified layer is formed by iron–carbon melts on the scrap
surface;
2) the solidified layer is melted;
3) the scrap is heated to the liquidus temperature of the surface
layer (carbonization); and
4) the scrap is overheated to start melting strongly and steadily.
The first two steps occur rapidly, with the specific time
of the scrap. Based on calculations, Mori and Nomura[33]
reported that the first and second steps are negligible unless the
scrap is thick, and Goldfarb and Sherstov[34] found that the first
two steps took 2 min for a scrap ball with a diameter of 20 cm.
Pehlke and Goodell[8] experimentally demonstrated that when
heating a steel rod with a diameter of 3.7 cm or larger to 1370  C,
the delay caused by the condensing of the molten iron is only
30 s, whereas no delay was observed for a small-diameter steel
rod. This paper studies the scrap melting problem in the process
of hot metal ladle transportation, while the transportation
process will take 45 min or more in general,[35,36] According to
the literature, the first two steps process last for 2 min, of which
the influence time is less than 1 min. Therefore, the first two
steps listed above do not significantly affect the overall melting
rate of scrap because of their short duration. What for the sake of
simplicity, the influence of such two steps are ignored in this
paper. The melting process and the mechanisms of the final two
steps are the primary focus of scrap melting studies.
In the process of adding scrap to the ladle, the scrap is first
baked and preheated to a certain temperature in the ladle.
During the process of hot metal tapping, the scrap is gradually
melted by heat absorbed from molten iron after the scrap reaches
its melting point, which is related to its carbon content (a higher
Latent heat of fusion/kJ  kg
1 Dynamic viscosity/Pa  s
870 —— 7.8  10
3
698 248.4 ——
© 2018 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim
www.advancedsciencenews.com www.steel-research.de

carbon content corresponds to a lower melting point). The

carbon content of scrap steel is low (generally below 2%),
resulting in a melting point between 1430  C and 1510  C. In
contrast, the carbon content of blast furnace molten iron is
relatively high. Contact between the scrap and molten iron
results in carburization (i.e., the carbon atoms in molten iron
infiltrate into the scrap), which increases the carbon content of
the scrap and reduces the melting point.
When the carbon content of scrap (C0 ) is lower than that of
molten iron (Cl ), and the temperature of molten iron (point a in
Figure 2) is lower than liquidus temperature of scrap (Point b in
Figure 2), the scrap cannot be melted only by heat transfer from
liquid steel. In this case, the carbon in liquid steel diffuses
toward the surface of the scrap. As a result, the content of
carbon of the scrap surface increases, and the melting
temperature decreases. When the surface carbon content of
scrap reaches a certain value (Point c in Figure 2), the scrap
begins to melt, which is referred to as diffused melting. This Figure 3. Temperature and concentration distribution during scrap
melting.
process is repeated until the scrap is fully melted. By taking the
center of scrap as the origin of the coordinates, if the carbon
content of scrap is lower than that of liquid steel, temperature
and concentration distribution near the liquid–solid interface is Accordingly, the linear velocity equations can be derived as
shown in Figure 3. In Figure 3, δc is the thickness of follows:
concentration boundary layer, δT is the thickness of tempera-
ture boundary layer, ΔT is the temperature difference, ΔC is the dx hðT l
T 0 Þ
vx ¼
¼   ð9Þ
concentration difference, T 0 is the initial temperature of scrap, dt ρs qs þ ðT l
T 0 ÞCp1
C0 is the initial carbon content of scrap, T l is the temperature of
molten iron, Cl is the carbon content of molten iron, T  is the and
temperature of the melt–scrap interface, C the carbon content
of the melt–scrap interface. dx βðCl
C Þ
vx ¼
¼ ð10Þ
In this case, the melting of scrap is related to both the heat dt ðCl
C0 Þρs
transfer rate and the mass transfer rate of carbon.
The heat balance and material balance of this process can be where ρl is the density of molten iron; ρs is the density of scrap, qs
described as follows: is the latent heat value of scrap melting; β is the mass transfer
coefficient of carbon in scrap melting.
 
hðT l
T 0 Þdt ¼
dxρs qs þ ðT l
T 0 ÞCp1 ð7Þ The Equation (9) and Equation (10) is derived based on the
following assumptions. The carbon content of the dx layer
and changes from Cs to Cl as the temperature changes from T 0 to T l .
The temperature and composition of the melted scrap parts are
ρl ρ the same as those of melt as a whole. A very thin boundary layer
βðCl
C Þ dt ¼
dxðCl
C0 Þ s ð8Þ
100 100 with parameters T l and C0 constantly advances toward the
center of the scrap without any effect on the carbon mass
balance.
The temperature T  and penetrated carbon content C for
melting scrap are calculated based on the following liquidus
equation as follows:

T  ¼ 1536
54C
8:13C2 ð11Þ

The corresponding vx value may be obtained from the known

Figure 2. Fe–C equilibrium phase diagram.
relationship between T  andC . Substituting Equation (11) into
Equation (9) and equating Equation (11) to Equation (10) yields a
cubic equation, and the values of C and vx can then be
calculated in MATLAB.
According to the model of the scrap melting process described
above, assuming that the temperature and carbon content of
molten iron is kept constant, the corresponding carbon content,
the melting temperature, and the instantaneous melting rate of
the scrap can be calculated.

steel research int. 2018, 1800435 1800435 (4 of 10) © 2018 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim
www.advancedsciencenews.com
Figure 4. Relationship between the carbon content in molten iron and the
melting rate of the scrap at 1400  C.
The relationship between the carbon content and the instanta-
neous melting rate of the scrap is shown in Figure 4. The
instantaneous melting rate of the scrap vx is 3.29 mm min
1 when
the temperature T l is 1400  C and the carbon content Cl is 4.2%
in the molten iron (Point A). In this case, the carbon content of
scrap melting C is 2.23% and the melting temperature T  is
1375  C. According to the calculation results, it can be determined
that, at the molten iron temperature of 1400  C, in this paper, the
value of the scrap melting temperature T m is 1375  C.
After the molten iron and scrap steel come into contact, the
surface crust of the scrap steel is primarily formed under higher
melting point due to its heat absorption from molten iron. In a
short time period, the scrap carbon content increases, the
melting point decreases, and the melting process begins as a
result of the carburizing effect of molten iron. The entire melting
process is initiated by the formation of scrap surface crust
followed by the concurrent carburizing and melting process.
The energy conservation equations for scrap melting can be
written as
Q ¼ Qt þ Qm ¼ Q1 þ Q2 ð12Þ
Q t ¼ cp2 ðT m
T h Þm ð13Þ
and
Q m ¼ qs  m ð14Þ
where Q is the heat required to melt scrap; Q t is the heat
required to heat scrap to its melting point; cp2 is the specific heat
capacity of scrap; Q m is the total heat required for the latent
heat of scrap melting; Q 1 is the heat required for the impact
phase;Q 2 is the heat required from the end of impact phase to
complete melting; T m is the scrap melting temperature; T h is the
scrap preheating temperature; qs is the latent heat value of scrap
melting; and m is the mass of scrap.
Since the scrap melting rate is related to the contact area
between scrap and molten iron, under the condition of melting,
heavy scrap is taken as an example here, and the corresponding
steel research int. 2018, 1800435 1800435 (5 of 10)
www.steel-research.de
melting time of scrap is expressed as
t ¼ t1 þ t2 ð15Þ
Q 1 ¼ t1 h1 ðT l
T h Þπm ð16Þ
Q 2 ¼ t2 h2 ðT l
T t Þπm ð17Þ
So
cp1 ðT m
T h Þ þ ql
t1 h1 ðT l
T h Þπ
t ¼ t1 þ ð18Þ
h2 ðT l
T t Þπ
where t is the melting time of scrap; t1 is the time for the impact
phase;t2 is the time from the end of impact phase to complete
melting. h1 is the heat transfer coefficient of the impact phase of
molten iron; h2 is the heat transfer coefficient after immersion;
T t is the scrap temperature and π is the specific surface area of
scrap (π ¼ mS in units of m2 t
1).
According to Equation (18), the scrap melting time is affected
by both the scrap preheating temperature and specific surface
area. Calculations were carried out for scrap steel with
length ¼ 2 m, width ¼ 1.5 m, height ¼ 0.2 m, mass ¼ 4.7 t, and
specific surface area ¼ 1.6 m2 t
1 According to the blast furnace
rate, when the preheating temperature is 800  C, scrap with
thickness <0.2 m takes only 1–2 min to be completely immersed
in molten iron. The complete melting time of scrap is
approximately 25.8 min, and the melting rate is 5.5 min t
1.
4. Effect of Scrap Type on Melting
4.1. Numerical Calculations
To ensure that the addition of scrap does not affect the
pretreatment of molten iron, the complete scrap melting time
must be less than the time for ladle from hot metal tapping to the
pretreatment station. According to production research data, this
time is normally distributed within 45–70 min.[36] To guarantee
the complete melting of the ladle at the pretreatment station, the
minimum turnaround time is set as 45 min. Based on Equation
(18), the melting time per ton of steel is only related to the
preheating temperature and the specific surface area of the
scrap. Thus, when evaluating the effect of the scrap preheating
temperature on the melting rate, it is necessary to control for the
specific surface area of the scrap. The parameters of three
different common scrap types are shown in Table 2.
The calculated scrap melting time is shown as a function of
preheating temperature in Figure 5. The melting time of scrap
per ton is linearly related to the preheating temperature of the
scrap. The scrap melting rate increases with increasing
preheating temperature, resulting in shorter melting time.
The effect of preheating temperature on melting rate is more
obvious for the scrap types with smaller specific surface areas.
Taking scrap type 3 as an example, the scrap melting rate is
11.5 min t
1 when the preheating temperature reaches 800  C,
and the total melting time is approximately 54 min. This total
© 2018 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim
www.advancedsciencenews.com www.steel-research.de

Table 2. Parameters of three typical scrap types.

No. Size type Length/m Width/m Height/m Surface area/m2 Mass/kg Specific surface area/m2  t
1
Scrap 1 Light and thin 2 0.5 0.01 2.05 78.5 26.1
Scrap 2 Medium 1 0.5 0.1 1.3 392.5 3.3
Scrap 3 Heavy 2 1.5 0.2 7.4 4710 1.6

melting time exceeds 45 min, the safe time for ladle transport to using a two-dimensional model along the axisymmetric plane of
molten iron pretreatment. These results indicate that it is the scrap (the section marked by the grid line of the scrap in
difficult to ensure the complete melting of heavy scrap with Figure 7) using Fluent software. The related material properties
extremely small specific surface area before molten iron and other parameters have been given above.
pretreatment, even if the preheating temperature is as high as The structured quadrilateral grid is used in the numerical
800  C. simulation to establish the two-dimensional model, which
Calculations were performed for three types of scrap (Table 2): contains 36 796 meshes. The solidification and melting model is
1) light and thin scrap with specific surface area >5 m2 t
1; 2)
medium scrap with specific surface area of 2–5 m2 t
1; and 3)
heavy scrap with specific surface area <2 m2 t
1. Scrap melting
rate is shown as a function of specific surface area in Figure 6.
The scrap melting rate is inversely proportion to the specific
surface area of the scrap. When the specific surface area is less
than 5 m2 t
1, increasing the specific surface area can effectively
improve the scrap melting rate. In contrast, when the specific
surface area is greater than 5, the specific surface area is no
longer the limiting factor in the scrap melting rate, and further
increasing the specific surface area has relatively little effect on
the melting rate. The effects of both the specific surface area of
scrap and the scrap preheating temperature on the scrap melting
rate are shown in Figure 6.

4.2. Numerical Simulation

A numerical simulation on block-shaped scrap (length ¼ 0.6 m,

width ¼ 0.6 m, height ¼ 0.3 m, total mass ¼ 0.85 t, specific
surface area ¼ 1.7 m2 t
1) were employed to assess the Figure 6. Effects of the specific surface area and preheating temperature
calculation accuracy. The numerical simulation was performed of scrap on the scrap melting rate.

Figure 5. Scrap melting rate vs. preheating temperature for different

scrap types according to Table 2. Figure 7. Schematic diagram of molten scrap in a ladle.

steel research int. 2018, 1800435 1800435 (6 of 10) © 2018 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim
www.advancedsciencenews.com
used for calculation, and the calculation domain contains the
unmelted solid phase and the melted liquid phase.
In the solidification and melting model, the liquid-solid
mushy zone is treated as a porous zone with porosity equal to the
liquid fraction. The momentum sink terms are added to the
momentum equations to account for the pressure drop caused
by the presence of solid material.
The momentum sink due to the reduced porosity in the
mushy zone takes the following form:
ð1
ϕÞ2
S¼ Amush~
v ð19Þ
ðφ3 þ eÞ
where φ is the liquid volume fraction, e is a small number
(0.001) to prevent division by zero,~ vis the fluid velocity, S is the
source term. Amush is the mushy zone constant, and is set as
105.[37]
Pressure-based solver is applied in the computing model. The
pressure–velocity coupling schemes was SIMPLE. The gradient
of the scalar at the call center is computed by the method of Least
Squares Cell Bused. The discretization schemes for the pressure
equation is second order. The under-relaxation factors of
pressure, density, momentum for all equations were 0.3, 0.8,
and 0.7.
In order to simplify the mathematical model, the following
assumptions are made:
(1) the molten iron column is assumed to be continuous and
uninterrupted;
(2) the carbon content of scrap is 2.23% when melting, and
melting point is 1375  C;
(3) it is assumed that the bottom of scrap cannot joint closely
that of molten iron ladle, and the bottom of scrap is always
immersed in the molten iron;
(4) the temperature of molten iron is constant;
(5) in the scrap parameters, only the influence of thermal
conductivity, specific heat capacity and density on scrap is
taken into consideration, but the influence of expansion
coefficient and other thermal conductivity parameters is
ignored; and
Figure 8. Temperature field distribution for the scrap melting process.
steel research int. 2018, 1800435 1800435 (7 of 10)
www.steel-research.de
(6) it is assumed to be always in the natural environment of
300 K.
The setting of simulated boundary conditions can be divided
into three working conditions. At the initial state of t ¼ 0 s, the
impact area (diameter ¼ 0.08 m) of scrap steel and its immersed
part into molten iron is set as the fixed temperature boundary
condition, while the rest of scrap is set as the natural convection
heat transfer; at the time of 0 < t < 90s, the immersed part of
scrap into molten iron on both sides is set as the fixed
temperature, while the non-immersed part is natural convection
heat transfer, and the boundary conditions at the top and bottom
of scrap are the same as those at t ¼ 0 s; at the time of t > 90s, all
boundary conditions of scrap are set to the fixed temperature.
The scrap preheating temperature in the numerical simula-
tion was initially set to 800  C, and the hot metal tapping
temperature was 1450  C. Due to the high viscosity of molten
iron, the SST k–ω model was selected as the turbulent model.
The symmetry plane of the scrap, the temperature field
distribution, and the size of the remaining scrap were monitored
every 1.5 min. Figure 8 shows the change in the temperature
field during the scrap melting process. The column of molten
iron directly affects the upper surface of the scrap within the first
1.5 min of the simulation, and the molten iron liquid level at the
bottom gradually increases. The temperature is always lowest at
the center of the scrap, and the overall temperature of the scrap
increases with time. The temperature of the scrap exceeds
1260  C after 9 min of hot metal tapping.
Figure 9 shows the liquid-phase volume fractional cloud
diagram during the scrap melting process. At the moment of hot
metal tapping, the molten iron impacts the scrap, generating pits
on its upper surface. The lower part of the scrap begins to melt,
and the level of molten iron gradually increases. The scrap is
completely melted at 9 min after hot metal tapping. The first
4.5 min essentially correspond to the endothermic heating of the
scrap. During this time, the temperature difference and heat
flow density are large, whereas the scrap volume is small,
corresponding to a relatively low melting rate. After 4.5 min, the
scrap reaches its melting temperature, and primarily endother-
mic melting occurs with a large melting rate. In the simulation,
© 2018 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim
www.advancedsciencenews.com www.steel-research.de

Figure 9. Liquid-phase volume fractional cloud diagram for the scrap melting process.

0.85 t of scrap was completely melted within 10 min with an
average melting rate of 11.7 min t
1.
4.3. Model Verification
In order to analyze the calculation accuracy, The published[14]
experimental data and results are used in this paper. Guo and
Seickard studied the melting condition of plate scrap through
numerical simulation, which is compared with the experimental
results then. After the substitution of related parameters in the
literature into the calculation model in this paper; for the melting
time of scrap steel of different size, the calculation results and
experimental results are shown in Table 3. the calculation results
are consistent with the literature experiment results, thus
verifying the accuracy of calculation.
5. Amount of Scrap Added to the Ladle
The overall temperature of molten iron needs to be maintained
at a safe level for pretreatment after melting the scrap:


T f
T s
T d cp2 m2  Q ð20Þ
The amount of scrap that should be added can be obtained by
combining Equations (12–17) and (20) as follows:

typical scraps are shown in Table 4 for different preheating
T f
T s
T d cp2 m2
mmax ð21Þ
ql þ ðT m
T h Þcp1
where T f is the tapping temperature of the blast furnace; T s is
the safe temperature of molten iron pretreatment; T d is the
temperature drop of molten iron during transport from the blast
furnace to the pretreatment station; and mmax is the maximum
amount of scrap that can be added to the ladle. Since the
temperature drop of molten iron during transport is essentially
fixed,[35,36] and the fluctuation in the hot metal tapping
temperature is small, the important factor affecting mmax is
primarily the melting time, which is influenced by the scrap
preheating temperature.
When scrap is melted completely before reaching the
pretreatment station and reaches a temperature that is safe
for pretreatment, the maximum amount of scrap that can
be added is given by the following objective function:
t0
tm
mmax ð22Þ
t
where t0 is the time from the start of the hot metal tapping to the
pre-treatment station (the minimum value is taken as 45 min); tm
is the time of the first two steps of melting process (tm  2 min);
and t is the melting time per ton of steel. The maximum amount
of scrap limited by the heat of molten iron can then be calculated
using Equation (22). For T h ¼ 300  C, the maximum amount of
scrap that can be added is 30 t. Therefore, the melting time and
not the temperature of molten iron is the primary factor limiting
the amount of scrap that can be added. The maximum amount of
scrap that can be added and the melting conditions of the three
temperatures.
For a 300 ton ladle, when the preheating temperature reaches
800  C, the maximum amounts of light/thin, medium and heavy
scrap that can be added are 18, 11.3, and 6.6 t, respectively, and
the corresponding ladle-to-scrap ratios are 2.2–6%, 1–3.8%, and
0.76–2.2%, respectively.

Table 3. Comparison between calculated and experimental scrap melting time.

Scrap size (equivalent thickness) Observed melting time/min Calculated melting time/min
8 inches  3 feet  4 feet (0.18 m) 17.5 16.7
10 inches  3 feet  4 feet (0.23 m) 22 20.8
14 inches  3 feet  4 feet (0.33 m) 24 22.8

steel research int. 2018, 1800435 1800435 (8 of 10) © 2018 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim
www.advancedsciencenews.com www.steel-research.de

Table 4. Addition plan of steel scrap in hot metal ladle.

Scrap type Specific surface area [m2/t] Preheating temperature [ C] Melting rate [min t
1] Addition amount [t] Scrap ratio [%]
Light and thin >5 300–500 4–6.8 6.6–11.3 2.2–3.8
500–800 2.5–5 9–18 3–6
Medium 2–5 300–500 5–15 3–9 1–3
500–800 4–10 4.5–11.3 1.5–3.8
Heavy <2 300–500 10–20 2.3–4.5 0.76–1.5
500–800 6.8–14 3.2–6.6 1.1–2.2

6. Conclusions Nu Nusselt number

ρl Mass density of molten iron (kg m–3)
In order to further improve the scrap steel ratio during the steel ρs Mass density of scrap (kg m–3)
production process, this paper analyzed the scheme of adding u Velocity of molten iron (m s–1)
scrap steel to the multifunctional ladle before blast furnace d Diameter of the column of molten iron (m)
picking up iron. Analysis of scrap melting process in the ν Kinematic viscosity (m2 s–1)
multifunctional ladle is also carried out through theoretical and α Thermal diffusion coefficient (m2 s–1)
numerical calculation and simulation. μ Dynamic viscosity (Pa  s)
Cp1 Specific heat capacity of molten iron (J/kg  K)
(1) The scrap preheating temperature and specific surface area cp2 Specific heat capacity of scrap (J/kg  K)
have important effects on the melting of the scrap. For heavy k Thermal conductivity in (W/m  K)
scrap with a specific surface area of 1.6 m2 t
1, the scrap ct Experimental correlation correction coefficient
melting rate decreases from 15.5 to 11.5 min t
1 as the L Characteristic length of heat transfer surface (m)
preheating temperature increases from 300  C to 800  C. For ηf Dynamic viscosity of fluid calculated based on the average
the preheating temperature of 800  C, medium scrap with a temperature of fluid (Pa  s)
specific surface area of 3.3 m2 t
1 has a melting rate of ηw Dynamic viscosity of fluid calculated on the basis of the
6.8 min t
1, whereas light and thin scrap with a specific average temperature of wall surface (Pa  s)
surface area of 26.1 m2 t
1 has a melting rate of 2.3 min t
1. qs Latent heat value of scrap melting (kJ kg–1)
(2) For a ladle with a capacity of 300 t, the maximum amounts of β Mass transfer coefficient of carbon in scrap melting
light/thin, medium and heavy scrap that can be added are 18, (m s–1)
11.3, and 6.6 t, respectively, and the corresponding ladle-to- ΔT Temperature difference (K)
scrap ratios are 2.2–6%, 1–3.8%, and 0.76–2.2%, respectively. Tl Temperature of molten iron (K)
T0 Initial temperature of scrap (K)
Th Scrap preheating temperature (K)
T Temperature of the melt–scrap interface (K)
Acknowledgements Tm Scrap melting temperature (K)
The authors are grateful for the financial support of the General of Tt Scrap temperature (K)
Program of National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. Tf Tapping temperature of the blast furnace (K)
51674030 and No. 51574032) and the National Key Research and Ts Safe temperature of molten iron pretreatment (K)
Development Program of China (Grant No. 2016YFB0601301). Td Temperature drop of molten iron during transport from
the blast furnace to the pretreatment station (K)
ΔC Concentration difference (%)
Conflict of Interest Cl Carbon content of the melt (%)
C Carbon content of the melt–scrap interface (%)
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
C0 Original carbon content of the scrap (%)
Q Heat required to melt scrap (KJ)
Qt Heat required to heat scrap to its melting point (KJ)
Nomenclature
Qm Total heat required for the latent heat of scrap melting (KJ)
q Heat flux density (W m–2) Q1 Heat required for the impact phase (KJ)
h Heat transfer coefficient (W/m2  K) Q2 Heat required from the end of impact phase to complete
h1 Heat transfer coefficient at the time of impact with molten melting (KJ)
iron (W/m2  K) t Melting time of scrap (s)
h2 Heat transfer coefficient after immersion in molten iron t1 Time for the impact phase (s)
(W/m2  K) t2 Time from the end of impact phase to complete melting (s)
Re Reynolds number t0 Time from the start of the hot metal tapping to the pre-
Pr Prandtl number treatment station (s)

steel research int. 2018, 1800435 1800435 (9 of 10) © 2018 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim
www.advancedsciencenews.com www.steel-research.de

tm Time of the first two steps of melting process (s) [10] Y. N. Toulouevski, I. Y. Zinurov, Fuel Arc Furnace (FAF) for Effective
t Melting time per ton of steel (s) Scrap Melting From EAF to FAF, SpringerBriefs in Applied
π Specific surface area of scrap (m2 t–1) Sciences and Technology, 2017. https://www.springer.com/us/book/
S Source term 9789811058844
φ Liquid volume fraction [11] J. Li, Metall. Mater. Trans. B. 2005, 36B, 29.
e A small number (0.001) to prevent division by zero [12] M. Kawakami, K. Takatani, L. C. Brabie, Tetsu-to-Hagane. 1999,
~v Fluid velocity (m s–1) 85, 658.
[13] A. Kruskopf, Metall. Mater. Trans. B. 2015, 46B, 1195.
Amush Mushy zone constant
[14] D. Guo, Iron Steel Technol. 2013, 4, 125.
m Mass of scrap (kg)
[15] A. K. Shukla, Metall. Mater. Trans. B. 2013, 44B, 1407.
mmax Maximum amount of scrap that can be added to the ladle [16] H. W. Hartog, P. J. Kreyger, C.R.M. 1973, 37, 13.
(kg) [17] J. K. Wright, Metall. Mater. Trans. B. 1989, 20, 363.
[18] K. Mandal, G. A. Irons, Metall Mater Trans B. 2012, 44, 184.
[19] M. Kawakami, K. Takatana, L. C. Brabie, Tetsu-to-Hagane. 1999,
85, 20.
[20] Y. Igarashi, E. Kakiuchi, I. Daigo, Y. Matsuno, Y. Adachi, Isij Int. 2008,
Keywords 93, 782.
melting process, multifunctional hot metal ladle, numerical simulation, [21] H. Hatayama, I. Daigo, Environ. Sci. Technol. 2010, 44, 6457.
scrap steel [22] K. Nakajima, Y. Uchiyama, K. Halada, J. Jpn. Inst. Met. 2002, 66, 917.
[23] Y. A. Pak, G. A. Filippov, M. V. Glukhikh, Steel Transl. 2016, 46, 657.
[24] S. Sugiura, N. Demukai, Isij Int. 2006, 28, 1014.
Received: August 10, 2018
[25] L. Q. Zhang, N. Y. Tian, Z. X. Lu, Chin. J. Eng. 2007, 29, 424.
Revised: October 10, 2018
[26] F. Yuan, G. Yang, A. J. Xu, K. Feng K, Chin. J. Eng. 2018, 1, 31.
Published online:
[27] V. V. Klimanchuk, N. V. Kosolap, Steel Transl. 2011, 41, 918.
[28] B. Glaser, M. Görnerup, D. Sichen, Steel Res. Int. 2011, 82, 1425.
[29] X. Zhang, R. Takahashi, H. Nogami H, J. I. Yagi, Isij Int. 2002, 42, 23.
[1] M. Yamazaki, Mater. Trans. 2011, 52, 498. [30] Z. Yuan, W. Tao, Q. Wang, Int. J. Numer. Methods Fluids 2015, 28,
[2] M. Wang, S. Gu, Y. Guo, Acta Geol. Sinica. 2015, 88, 1294. 1371.
[3] P. Futás, A. Pribulová, G. Fedorko, V. Molnár, Isij Int. 2017, 57, 374. [31] W. A. Xie, G. N. Xi, Energy 2017, 132, 49.
[4] S. Asai, I. Muchi, Tetsu-to-Hagane. 1970, 56, 546. [32] J. Chen, Hand Book of Common Chart Data for Steelmaking Process,
[5] F. Oeters, Verlag Stahleisen mbH, Berlin. 1994, 234. Metallurgical Industry Press, Beijing 1984, p. 237.
[6] J. Szekely, Y. K. Chuang, J. W. Hlinka, Metall. Mater. Trans. B. 1972, 3, [33] K. Mori, H. Nomura, Tetsu-to-Hagane. 1969, 55, 347.
2825. [34] E. T. Goldfarb, B. E. Sherstov, Inzh-Fiz-Zhur. 1970, 8, 492.
[7] A. Kruskopf, L. Holappa, Metall.Res.Technol. 2018, 115, 1. [35] R. I. L. Guthrie, P. Stubbs, Can. Metall. Q. 2013, 12, 465.
[8] R. D. Pehlke, P. D. Goodell, R. W. Dunlap, Trans. AIME 1965, 233, [36] Z. H. Jiang, D. Pan, W. H. Gui, Y. F. Xie, C. H. Yang, Ironmak
1420. Steelmak 2016, 1, 19.
[9] W. Yang, X. Jiang, Iron Steel 2017, 52, 27. [37] C. Pan, J. Charles, Int J Heat Mass Trans. 2018, 124, 1015

steel research int. 2018, 1800435 1800435 (10 of 10) © 2018 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim