Steel Reheating Furnaces Significantly Upgraded with Flameless Oxyfuel Heating Technology


Linde paper at AISTech 2012 to disclose results from several steel continuous reheat furnaces.

Murray Hill, New Jersey, U.S., - Existing steel continuous reheat furnace performance can be significantly enhanced using flameless oxyfuel heating technology, according to a paper to be presented during AISTech 2012, by Linde North America and two European steel manufacturers. By installing flameless oxyfuel burners or the new Linde REBOX®HLL oxygen injection technology, existing reheat furnaces can be upgraded to increase throughput (heating capacity), reduce specific fuel consumption, and minimize gaseous emissions of CO2 and NOx with less capital investment compared with other alternatives and, in some cases, complete reversibility.

The AISTech 2012 Conference will be held at The Georgia Congress Center, Atlanta, Georgia, May 7-10. The paper, entitled, Flameless Oxyfuel Slab Reheating Experiences,will be presented on Monday, May 7, at 9:30 am in the "Hot Sheet Rolling/Energy & Utilities - Fuel for Thought" session in Building A - Level Four Concourse A403. The results from flameless oxyfuel installations in several steel continuous reheat furnaces, ranging in throughput rates from 40 to 340 tons/hour will be discussed.

One of the presenters, Tony Palermo, Metallurgy Program Manager for Linde North America, said, "Typically, these performance enhancement systems can be installed with nominal furnace downtime resulting in little or no lost production. In the case of REBOX® HLL technology, downtime for installation may be as short as one day, operational risk is minimized, and there is wide flexibility in the selection of operating techniques because the process is completely reversible. Thus operating practices can be changed according to the current conditions for variables such as fuel cost, fuel heating value, and production requirements. Similar features may be designed into a technical solution incorporating flameless oxyfuel boosting."

Over the past five years, 30 flameless oxyfuel systems have been installed by Linde at 15 steel mills located throughout the world. The achieved results from walking beam installations using REBOX® HLL and/or flameless oxyfuel boosting are:

o Emissions of NOX reduced by up to 45%

o Fuel consumption decreased by 25%, with similar reductions in SO2 and CO2 emissions

o No negative impact on the surface quality

o Improved temperature uniformity of the reheated steel section

o Production throughput increased by 15-30%

o Ideal heating curve more closely achieved

o Reduction in furnace emissions/fumes, greatly improved the plant working environment

Linde North America is a member of The Linde Group, a world-leading gases and engineering company with around 50,500 employees in more than 100 countries worldwide. In the 2011 financial year, it achieved sales of EUR 13.787 bn (USD 18.1 billion). The strategy of The Linde Group is geared towards long-term profitable growth and focuses on the expansion of its international business with forward-looking products and services. Linde acts responsibly towards its shareholders, business partners, employees, society and the environment - in every one of its business areas, regions and locations across the globe. The Group is committed to technologies and products that unite the goals of customer value and sustainable development.

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