Investigation of splashing at different sampling positions and cavity modes in oxygen steelmaking

In oxygen steelmaking, study of splashing is an essential part of understanding and optimizing the process. Various hot models, cold models and plant trials have been carried out previously to estimate the droplet generation rate and amounts of droplets present in the emulsion. Sampling technique has been commonly used in this regard and in most of the cases, samples were collected from one place of the emulsion to estimate the droplet generation rate. A recent comprehensive plant trial [1,2] on improving phosphorus refining (IMPHOS), commissioned by European Union, was carried out in a 6 t Pilot plant BOS converter at the Swerea MEFOS Metallurgical Research Plant in Sweden. A fully automated sampling system was used to collect samples from seven specified positions in every 2 minutes. The sampling lance was kept 0.045 m offset from the centre of the converter (as shown in Figure 1). Critical analysis of previous studies shows that variations were found in the reported droplet amount and in the rate of droplet generation. In the present study, variations in droplet generation rates in different sampling positions have been investigated quantitatively.