Effect of preheat, bed porosity, and charge control on thermal response ofsubmerged arc furnace producing ferrochromium

The temperature profile inside the submerged arc furnace is a critical fact or influencing the process efficiency in the production of ferroalloys. The effect of a number of critical process parameters such as the charge prehe at, bed porosity, and charge chemistry on the temperature profile was analy sed by means of a mathematical model, It was found that preheating of the c harge had a significant influence on the profile. Higher bed porosity tende d to bring the various isotherms closer to the hearth of the furnace. Low b ed porosity tended to expand the high temperature zone of the furnace. This can lead to diminished process efficiency under certain circumstances. The charge chemistry also altered the profile depending on the type of changes introduced. The influence of these parameters and their significance for t he operation of the process are discussed in this paper.