The melting shop

The electric arc furnace is charged with two buckets of recycled steel per cycle; the furnace needs approx. 50 minutes to convert this material into 120 metric tons of molten steel. The furnace works on the principle of direct current electric arc furnace. An electric arc is generated between a graphite electrode with a diameter of 750 mm and the bottom of the furnace which functions as the anode. This energy, supplemented by the energy supplied by six natural gas/oxygen burners, is used to melting the scrap.The 120 MVA (Mega Volt Ampere) that is required to run this DC arc furnace is almost equivalent to the electric power required for a town with a population of 120,000 inhabitants.
 
At the end of the smelting process the molten metal, with a temperature of approximately 1600°C, is transferred into the receptacle which is situated below the furnace. This is the start of the metallurgical further processing of the steel.

electric arc furnace        ladle furnace    

The ladle is then positioned under the ladle furnace. The ladle furnace is an alternating current electric arc furnace with a power requirement of 18 MVA, the ladle also serves as a container for the reaction. The aim of this process is to achieve the desired composition and the necessary final temperature of the steel. At this point the appropriate additional materials (alloys) are added and the metallurgical processes started depending upon the existing analysis and measurements. After about 35 minutes the ladle is transported with the transport wagon to the smelting shop. All the emissions created during the smelting and processing within the smelting shop are extracted using the latest powerful extraction equipment. The improvements to the extraction plant in 2006 have ensured that the legal requirements are met and are even below the limit.