Measuring Technologies for DRI-fed Electric Arc Furnaces

13 May 2026, 11:40
20m
Washington room (ground floor)

Washington room (ground floor)

Oral Presentation EEC 2.C Process control and quality improvement techniques Automation and Digitalization in Electric Steelmaking III

Speaker

Marvin Schmidt (TMT Tapping Measuring Technology)

Description

Electric arc furnaces (EAFs) which are charged with direct‑reduced iron (DRI) or hot‑briquetted iron (HBI) require fast in‑line measurements for effective control. This paper presents measurement systems addressing the needs of input‑material control, foaming‑level management, and off‑gas optimization.
A near-real-time metallization degree sensor identifies metallic Fe and Fe₃C in the DRI feed with a < 1 wt% accuracy; furnace level and slag foaming are continuously supervised by a radar level probe, and comprehensive off‑gas monitoring is achieved by an in‑situ gas composition analyzer for CO, CO₂, O₂, H₂, H₂O, and N₂ (≤ 0.2 vol% precision at 4 s measurement duration) combined with an acoustic thermometry sensor (REACT) for inertia free temperature measurement in the duct. Initial field observations indicate a more clear end‑of‑batch identification and stabilized foaming.
Mapping these signals to feed balancing, foaming control, post‑combustion, and energy management enables quantitatively controlling oxygen and carbon additions, lowering FeO and slag volume, increasing metallic yield, reducing specific energy, and reducing tap‑to‑tap time in DRI‑charged EAFs.

Speaker Company/University Marvin Schmidt
Speaker Country Luxembourg

Authors

Jean-Francois Stumper (TMT Tapping Measuring Technology) Marvin Schmidt (TMT Tapping Measuring Technology)

Co-authors

Marc Flammang (TMT Tapping Measuring Technology) Tammo Schüler (Bonnenberg & Drescher GmbH)

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