Around the world, the eutrophication of freshwater lakes and streams by the excess loading of phosphorus (P) has become one of the most important water quality issues. In Vermont, P pollution from urban and agricultural non-point sources has led to severe blooms of toxic cyanobacteria in Lake Champlain, and the degradation of the lake’s value as a drinking water source and its recreation potential. Electric arc furnace (EAF) steel slag has been identified as an effective material for use as a filter media for the removal of P from both point and non-point sources of pollution. In order to further assess the feasibility of this technology for use in Vermont, several investigations were carried out starting in the winter of 2006. Three objectives for research were identified: 1) to construct 2 EAF steel slag filters in-series at the Constructed Wetlands Research Center (CWRC) and investigate their efficiency in P, TSS and metals reduction from dairy waste water in a cold climate; 2) investigate the potential for reuse of P saturated EAF steel slag as a soil amendment and plant fertilizer by testing bioavailability of sorbed P and quantities of P released to surface runoff; 3) To elucidate the principal mechanisms responsible for the removal of P in EAF slag filters when used for the treatment of dairy effluent. The results indicated that 2 EAF steel slag filters constructed in-series are an effective method to increase the treatment efficiency and longevity of a filter system. Additionally, parameters for the concentrations of total suspended solids (TSS) and biological oxygen demand (BOD) were developed, both important factors for design of filter systems. In greenhouse trials, Medicago sativa plants achieved greater above ground biomass growth with P fertilization by triple super phosphate (TSP) than EAF steel slag at the shorter growth period (5 weeks). However, by the end of the longer growth period (10 weeks) except at the highest amendment rate, the plants treated with EAF steel slag had a higher growth rate than the TSP, suggesting that EAF steel slag is an effective slow release P source. Using a rain simulator, the amount of P lost to surface runoff from both a saturated and a semi-saturated EAF steel slag was found to be negligible, and except for total P in the saturated slag, to be below 1 mg L-1. Voltammetric analysis and geochemical modeling were used to identify possible mechanisms for the removal of P from waste effluent. The Ca mineral hydroxyapaptite and the Fe(II) mineral vivianite were both shown to be likely mechanisms given the chemical conditions in EAF steel slag filters. This research represents the first investigation of cold weather performance of EAF steel slag filters for the treatment of dairy parlor and milk house waste effluent. Additionally, it was also the first research on the bioavailability of P sorbed to EAF steel slag, and of the possibility of its reuse as a soil amendment, and of the mechanisms involved in P removal from dairy waste effluent.

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The reaction between carbon and iron oxide-containing slag is crucial to efficient electric arc furnace steelmaking. The reaction occurs via gaseous intermediates, and the rate of gas generation by carbon gasification is limited by the chemical reactions at the slag-gas and carbon-gas interfaces. The aim of the present study was to obtain an understanding of the gasification rate limiting factors and slag foaming behaviour that could be readily applied to industrial electric arc furnace situations. The rate of carbon gasification was measured in experimental simulations of an electric arc furnace heat with slags containing between 21.6 and 48.2 wt% 'FeO'. It was found that rate control was dominated by the carbon-gas chemical reaction. A model was developed which describes the carbon gasification rate, amount of residual carbon in the slag, gas composition, slag-gas interfacial area and bubble diameter during carbon injection into slag. The model predicts rate control by the carbon-gas chemical reaction, in agreement with experimental observations. The slag foaming behaviour was investigated, and it was found that the foaming index is a useful parameter in quantifying foam height only if void fraction is constant with respect to gas flow rate. The average bubble size was observed to be an important factor in determining foam stability, with smaller bubble size resulting in greater foam height. / Thesis / Master of Applied Science (MASc)

The objective of this study was to utilize an electric arc furnace ¡]EAF¡^in a steel mill to melt municipal incinerator fly ash ¡]MIFA¡^of different sources ¡]Plants K1 and K2¡^ and evaluate its effectiveness in aspects of environment and economy. The results of full-scale tests have shown that slag thus generated by the EAF was found to be non-hazardous based on the TCLP result and also met the standard of CNS 14602. However, EAF dust thus obtained remained hazardous as it was originally a listed waste by Taiwan EPA. Test results have indicated that this novel treatment technology would not deteriorate the quality of steel billets and bars produced. Moreover, when melting MIFAs from Plant K1¡]with 2.00 wt¢H of MIFA¡^ and Plant K2 ¡]with 3.28 wt¢H of MIFA¡^, the air quality in the steel mill surroundings and off-gas from the stack were all below the regulatory limits. Thus, it would not cause additional pollution problems from this practice. Based on the total capacity of EAFs in Taiwan, it was estimated that these EAFs would be capable of melting fly ash generated by municipal incinerators in Taiwan. From the economic perspective, this melting practice would not lower the production rate of EAF steel-making and increase the tap-to-tap cycle time, consumption of electrical energy, consumption of oxygen, and consumption of graphite electrodes. Furthermore, through this novel practice, the contents of MIFA have turned out to be able to replace some portions of quick-lime and coke powder required for steel-making. Test results have also shown that 1 wt¢H of MIFA injection would generate additional 8.93 kg of slag and 2.76 kg of EAF dust. It was found that an additional cost of NT¢C318 per ton of MIFA treated would be resulted through this practice. This treatment cost is very low as compared with NT¢C8,000 per ton of waste treated by solidification and followed by landfilling. Assuming a melting cost of NT¢C5,000 per ton of MIFA is charged by EAFs, it would save more than ten million NT¢C per year for a municipal incinerator with an annual generation of 5,840 tons of MIFA. On the other hand, for a mini-mill with an annual capacity of 264,000 tons of billets, it would have an additional income of 37 million NT¢C if 3 wt¢H of MIFA is melted while making steel.

This investigates the voltage flicker problem of a large steel plant and presents the mitigation strategy by applying the static var compensator (SVC) and cogenerator. The fluctuation of real power and reactive power consumption by an arc furnace has been measured and recorded during the steel production process. The dynamic load model of the A/C arc furnace is derived based on the actual field data and has been included in the computer simulation by the CYME software package for load flow analysis. The block diagrams of SVC controller and the excitation system of cogenerators are considered to solve the response of reactive power compensation according to the voltage fluctuation of the control bus. To maintain the electric service reliability of arc furnace when an external utility fault occurs, the tie line tripping and load shedding is implemented to prevent the tripping of cogenerator after system disturbance. It is found that the dynamic load behavior of arc furnace in the isolated industrial power system can be well compensated by the cogenerator with adaptive control of exciter and governor to generate proper reactive power and real power according to the fluctuation of bus voltage and system frequency respectively.

Voltage flicker limitation of electric utilities has been discussed in the past three decades. Arc furnace is one of the most disturbing loads that cause flicker problems in the power network. If displeasing flicker levels are predictable, then corrective solution such as static var compensation or furnace controls could be developed in cooperation between the utility and the customer. In the past, the electric fluctuations in the arc furnace voltage have been proven to be chaotic in nature. This thesis proposes a phase space approach based on nonlinearity chaotic techniques to analyze and predict voltage flicker. The determination of the phase space dimension and the application of Lyapunov exponent for flicker prediction are described. Test results have shown that accurate prediction results are obtainable for short term flicker prediction based on chaos theory.

The dissertation forms part of an ongoing project for the modelling and eventual control of an electric arc furnace (EAF) process. The main motivation behind such a project is the potential benefits that can result from automation of a process that has largely been operator controlled, often with results that leave sufficient room for improvement. Previous work in the project has resulted in the development of a generic model of the process. A later study concentrated on the control of the EAF where economic factors were taken into account. Simulation results from both studies clearly demonstrate the benefits that can accrue from successful implementation of process control. A major drawback to the practical implementation of the results is the lack of a model that is proven to be an accurate depiction of the specific plant where control is to be applied. Furthermore, the accuracy of any process model can only be verified against actual process data. There lies the raison d'etre for this dissertation: to take the existing model from the simulation environment to the real process. The main objective is to obtain a model that is able to mimic a selected set of process outputs. This is commonly a problem of system identification (SID): to select an appropriate model then fit the model to plant input/output data until the model response is similar to the plant under the same inputs (and initial conditions). The model fitting is carried out on an existing EAF model primarily by estimation of the model parameters for the EAF refining stage. Therefore the contribution of this dissertation is a model that is able to depict the EAF refining stage with reasonable accuracy. An important aspect of model fitting is experiment design. This deals with the selection of inputs and outputs that must be measured in order to estimate the desired parameters. This constitutes the problem of identifiability: what possibilities exist for estimating parameters using available I/O data or, what additional data is necessary to estimate desired parameters. In the dissertation an analysis is carried out to determine which parameters are estimable from available data. For parameters that are not estimable recommendations are made about additional measurements required to remedy the situation. Additional modelling is carried out to adapt the model to the particular process. This includes modelling to incorporate the oxyfuel subsystem, the bath oxygen content, water cooling and the effect of foaming on the arc efficiency. / Dissertation (MEng (Electronic Engineering))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering / unrestricted

This dissertation forms part of the ongoing process at UP to model and control the electric arc furniture process. Previous work focused on modelling the furnace process from empirical thermodynamic principles as well as fitting the model to actual plant data. Automation of the process mainly focused on subsystems of the process, for example the electric subsystem and the off-gas subsystem. The modelling effort, especially the model fitting resulted in parameter values that are described with confidence intervals, which gives rise to uncertainty in the model, because the parameters can potentially lie anywhere in the confidence interval space. Robust model predictive control is used in this dissertation, because it can explicityly take the model uncertainty into account as part of the synthesis process. Nominal model predictive control – not taking model uncertainty into account – is also applied in order to determine if robust model predictive control provides any advantages over the nominal model predictive control. This dissertation uses the process model from previous wok together with robust model predictive control to determine the feasibility of automating the process with regards to the primary process variables. Possible hurdles that prevent practical implementation are identified and studied. / Dissertation (MEng (Electronic Engineering))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering / MEng / unrestricted

This dissertation forms part of the ongoing process at UP to model and control the electric arc furniture process. Previous work focused on modelling the furnace process from empirical thermodynamic principles as well as fitting the model to actual plant data. Automation of the process mainly focused on subsystems of the process, for example the electric subsystem and the off-gas subsystem. The modelling effort, especially the model fitting resulted in parameter values that are described with confidence intervals, which gives rise to uncertainty in the model, because the parameters can potentially lie anywhere in the confidence interval space. Robust model predictive control is used in this dissertation, because it can explicityly take the model uncertainty into account as part of the synthesis process. Nominal model predictive control – not taking model uncertainty into account – is also applied in order to determine if robust model predictive control provides any advantages over the nominal model predictive control. This dissertation uses the process model from previous wok together with robust model predictive control to determine the feasibility of automating the process with regards to the primary process variables. Possible hurdles that prevent practical implementation are identified and studied. / Dissertation (MEng (Electronic Engineering))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering / MEng / unrestricted

The influence of electromagnetic stirring in an electric arc furnace (EAF) has been studied. Using numerical modeling the effect of electromagnetic stirring on the thermal stratification and fluid flow has been investigated. The finite element method (FEM) software was used to compute the electromagnetic forces, and the fluid flow and heat and mass transfer equations were solved using a finite volume method (FVM) software. The results show that electromagnetic stirring has a significant effect on temperature homogenization and mixing efficiency in the bath. The important part of this study was calculation of heat transfer coefficient. The results show, electromagnetic stirring improves the heat transfer from the melt to scrap which is dependent on the stirring direction and force magnitudes.