Mineral Processing and Extractive Metallurgy

Transactions of the Institutions of Mining and Metallurgy

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BOF process dynamics

Ghosh Snigdha, Ballal N. Bharath & Nurni N. Viswanathan

To cite this article: Ghosh Snigdha, Ballal N. Bharath & Nurni N. Viswanathan (2019) BOF
process dynamics, Mineral Processing and Extractive Metallurgy, 128:1-2, 17-33, DOI:
10.1080/25726641.2018.1544331

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/25726641.2018.1544331

Published online: 27 Nov 2018.

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MINERAL PROCESSING AND EXTRACTIVE METALLURGY
2019, VOL. 128, NOS. 1–2, 17–33
https://doi.org/10.1080/25726641.2018.1544331

FERROUS CONVERTERS

BOF process dynamics

Ghosh Snigdha, Ballal N. Bharath and Nurni N. Viswanathan
Centre of Excellence in Steel Technology, Department of Metallurgical Engineering and Materials Science, Indian Institute of Technology
Bombay, Mumbai, India

ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY

The Basic Oxygen Furnace (BOF) process is an exceedingly fast refining process needing a good Received 28 July 2018
dynamic model for better understanding and dynamic control. The process is characterised by Revised 31 October 2018
reactions at multiple scales: at the scale of the metal bath and the slag and at the scales of Accepted 1 November 2018
droplets and bubbles. The reactions take place at multiple sites too. The presence of the
KEYWORDS
supersonic jet interacting with the metal bath and the slag layer, producing various sizes of Basic Oxygen Furnace; BOF;
drops in the emulsion which on reaction produce copious bubbles at its interface, lime process; dynamics; emulsion
dissolution issues, etc., make the description of the dynamics of the process complex and mechanism; decarburisation;
fascinating. There are still areas where an adequate quantitative description needs further dephosphurization
research.

Introduction and bubbles distributed in the slag/metal/gas emulsion

In integrated steel plants, Basic Oxygen Furnace (BOF)
plays a predominant role. Of the total crude steel pro-
duction of 1.6 billion tonnes in 2016, almost 75% was
made through oxygen blown converters, most of
which are top blown BOF (World Steel Association
2017). The productivity, economics and quality of
steel produced through oxygen blown converters
have a large bearing on the health of the steel industry
worldwide. These aspects are determined by the raw
material (hot metal) quality on one hand and the
dynamics of the process on the other. BOF process is
characterised by high reaction rates, the refining pro-
cess being completed typically in 12–15 min. To con-
trol this process for quality and productivity in this
short time frame, a good understanding of the
dynamics is important.
BOF is a complex process taking place over a short
time span, with very little direct feedback information
as the process progresses. There are several sub-pro-
cesses which are either ill-understood or of which we
have only semi-quantitative understanding. It is an
autogenous process; there is a heat excess even after
the input hot metal at around 1350°C is delivered as
steel at 1650–1700°C. Various coolants are therefore
used, scrap and iron ore being the primary ones. Oxy-
gen is delivered to the process through supersonic jets
issuing into hot and dust laden gases or under a liquid
gas emulsion; the jet behaviour is affected by this ambi-
ent. The reactions are heterogeneous and at different
length scales. There are the bulk metal bath, the bulk
slag and the gas phases. Much of the reaction, on the
other hand, takes place at the scale of fine droplets
phase. The difference in length scales result in differ-
ence in time scales too: the metal bath sees changes
over the entire heat cycle of 12–15 min whereas the
drops may undergo the complete cycle of refining in
about a minute. Therefore, the picture of the process
dynamics has evolved over many years based on obser-
vations and measurements in commercial and pilot
plants, carefully designed experiments and mathemat-
ical modelling.
The process
A typical BOF converter consists of a cylindrical barrel
with a rounded bottom, and a conical top (25–30° half
cone angle) for directing the gases into the off-gas hood
(Figure 1). The body is supported on pivots, called the
trunnions, such that the furnace can be rotated around
for charging, sampling, tapping and slag-off. The inside
is typically lined with magnesia-carbon refractory, of
different quality and thickness to match the wear pat-
tern. The typical volume provided inside the vessel is
around 1 m3 per ton of steel produced. If the slag
weight is 100–120 kg/ton, the freeboard above the
quiescent bath is more than 80%. This accommodates
the vigorous reactions which take place during the
middle part of a typical blow. The bottom of the reactor
is fitted with several (typically 6–8) porous elements,
through which argon gas is passed for bath mixing
and aiding slag-metal reactions. A tap hole is provided
on one side in the lower part of the cone for tapping the
metal. Slag is poured out on the other side through the
mouth.

CONTACT Nurni N. Viswanathan vichu@iitb.ac.in Centre of Excellence in Steel Technology, Department of Metallurgical Engineering and Materials
Science, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai, India
© 2018 Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining and The AusIMM Published by Taylor & Francis on behalf of the Institute and The AusIMM
18 G. SNIGDHA ET AL.
Figure 1. Schematic of BOF.
The primary raw material is molten pig iron (hot
metal) at about 1300–1400°C. Since heat generated is
more than what is required, steel scrap along with
iron ore is used as coolant. Lime stone is added in
some shops as a coolant for adjusting the final tempera-
ture. Calcined lime is used as a flux for achieving high
basicity needed for phosphorus removal. Scrap is added
first to an empty vessel (after slag-off from the previous
heat), on which the requisite quantity of hot metal is
added. Iron ore when used is added in a distributed
fashion typically during the first half of the blow.
Part or all of required lime is added before scrap
addition to act as a pad for protecting the lining from
scrap fall. Rest of the lime is typically added in a distrib-
uted fashion during the blow. Some magnesia addition
takes place in the form of dolomite, to minimise refrac-
tory dissolution into the slag. The amounts of various
charge materials are calculated a priori by a charge
control model based on material and heat balance,
taking into account the input compositions, hot
metal temperature and output steel composition and
temperature.
The refining reactions are all oxidising. This is
accomplished by blowing tonnage oxygen through a
top lance fitted with 3–6 supersonic flow nozzles
(2.0–2.1 Mach, fitted at an angle to the lance axis).
The tip of the lance is held at a distance between
1.8–2.5 m above the level of the quiescent metal
bath in a large sized converter. This lance height is
one of the operating parameters to control the
process.
A typical tap-to-tap cycle consists of the following
steps. Charging sequence is: lime, scrap and hot metal.
Once the furnace is made upright, the oxygen lance is
lowered to the required height (initially, highest value,
2.2–2.5 m) and blowing is started. During the initial
half of the blow, additional lime if any along with
iron ore, dolomite, and any other additives are
added. Additions of moisture containing materials
are avoided during the latter part of the blow to
keep hydrogen in the steel produced low. The high
lance operation is continued (typically 3–4 min) till
the slag has enough FeO for facilitating lime dissol-
ution, as discussed later. Thereafter the lance is pro-
gressively lowered to achieve the required rates of
refining. The lance height is decreased in 3–5 steps
depending on the individual plant practice. At
around 80–90% of the blow (based on oxygen flow)
a sample is taken for analysis and temperature is
measured so that when one finishes the blow
required composition and temperature are achieved
simultaneously. Sampling may be done either manu-
ally, i.e. stopping the blow, turning the converter to a
near horizontal position and taking a sample through
a spoon and measuring the temperature, or through
a sub-lance which is lowered into a blowing furnace
(in-blow sampling). Based on the sample analysis
and temperature, the last part of the blow is com-
pleted with requisite trim additions. Once the blow
is completed the converter is turned to the tapping
side for pouring the metal out, and then to the
other side for slag-off. In modern practice, some
slag is retained, the furnace is made upright, some
magnesite is added and then the slag is splashed
on to the inside surface by blowing high velocity
nitrogen. Periodically, the empty furnace is inspected
for refractory damage, either manually or through
laser scanners. Damage is repaired by gunning
refractory powder. The furnace is then ready for
the next blow (Miller et al. 1998).
In modern steel shops with level 2 automation,
much of the blow control is automatic. Normally
there are several blow profiles which are stored.
Depending on the input/output conditions, the model
suggests the blow profile, when an operator can utilise
her discretion and select. Thereafter the controller
completes the blow making appropriate additions
and lance height variations. The operator still needs
to supervise and intervene when needed, since the pro-
cess has some stochasticity.
 MINERAL PROCESSING AND EXTRACTIVE METALLURGY 19

Reactions
Typical composition of the hot metal can be: 4.5% C,
0.3–0.5% Si, 0.2–0.7% Mn, 0.1–0.18% P, 0.02% S, and
temperature of 1350°C. Since sulphur can only be
removed to the slag in the reduced state in the presence
of liquid iron, the oxidation process in the BOF does
not remove any significant amount of sulphur. The
overall reactions of significance can be written as fol-
lows:
[Si] + {O2 } = (SiO2 )

1
[Mn] + {O2 } = (MnO)
2
1
[C] + {O2 } = {CO}
2
5
2[P] + {O2 } = (P2 O5 )
2
1
Fe (l) + O2 (g) = (FeO)
2
[],{} and () are used for the metalloids dissolved in the
metal bath, gas and constituents in the slag, respect-
ively. Figure 2 gives the progress of the reactions in a
200 T converter as measured by Ciccuti et al. (Cicutti
et al. 2000, 2002). Earlier measurements too show simi-
lar above patterns (Chatterjee et al. 1976; Miller et al.
1998). Figure 2(c) gives the corresponding evolution
of the slag composition (Cicutti et al. 2000).
One notable feature in the evolution of metal com-
position is the simultaneous removal of significant
amounts of carbon even before Si has dropped to a
very low level. This is also borne out by the observation
that the CO flame shoots up at the mouth of the con-
verter within a short time of start of oxygen blow. This
is in contrast to the observations in the now obsolete
Bessemer converter or the OBM process, where air/
oxygen is blown from the bottom. In the latter pro-
cesses, appearance of a significant flame takes some Figure 2. (a) Evolution of carbon content in the bath during
time, which is assumed to indicate that carbon oxi- the blow. (b) Evolution of other solute contents (c) Evolution
dation does not start till silicon has fallen to fairly of slag composition (Reproduced from Cicutti et al. 2000).
low values (Orban et al. 1961).
Thermodynamically, the order of the solute oxi-
dation reactions at any local location for the input con- analysis of the process dynamics and reaction mechan-
ditions mentioned above should be: Si, Mn, C and isms interesting.
P. That is, at the conditions prevailing in the initial
part of the blow, Si should be oxidised before carbon.
Characteristics of the process
The low initial temperature itself makes Si reaction
to be favourable. In addition the product SiO2 is at Since feedback information from the process is scant,
very low activity in the highly basic conditions main- one needs to build a model for the process dynamics
tained right from the beginning. Carbon monoxide from the characteristics one observes from the infor-
partial pressure on the other hand remains near one mation one can obtain. The following are the typical
atmosphere. For example, if one assumes an activity features:
0.001 for SiO2, the pO2 in equilibrium with 4.5% C
and 0.5% Si is 10−17 and 10−19 atm. respectively. (1) The reaction rates are extremely fast. During peak
These and other features discussed below makes the decarburisation carbon is removed at the rate of
20 G. SNIGDHA ET AL.

about 0.3% per minute; that is about 600 kg of car-

bon per minute in 200 T converter (Figure 2(a)).
(2) The carbon reaction shows three typical phases
(Figure 2(a)): an initial phase when the rate is
building up, an intermediate phase when the rate
is relatively constant in spite of the fact that the
carbon content in the bath continuously falls
from about 3.5–4.0% during this period, and a
final phase beyond a critical carbon content
when the rate tapers off. The critical carbon con-
tent that has been mentioned in the literature lies
between 0.2–0.5%. The value reported by Ciccutti
et al, for example, is about 0.35% (Cicutti et al. Figure 4. Effect of decarburisation rate with oxygen blowing
2000). rate and lance height (Meyer et al. 1964).
(3) Though the three phases are displayed in almost all
studies, the individual heats with identical blowing
conditions show wide irreproducibility (Li et al. (5) Chatterjee et al. (Chatterjee et al. 1976) performed
1964; Meyer et al. 1964) as shown in Figure 3. experiments in a pilot converter at MEFOS
Two sequential blows with identical inputs and wherein they showed that there is a concentration
process parameters can show quite different beha- variation along the height of a top-only blown con-
viours, with some blows displaying slopping verter (Figure 5). This indicates that top blowing
(metal-slag-gas emulsion boiling over the mouth does not mix the metal bath well in spite of the
of the converter) or dry slag and spitting (resulting enormous momentum in the top jet. This differ-
in lance and mouth build-up). The irreproducibil- ence however disappeared on blowing a very
ity was much more prevalent in the early days of small amount of inert gas from the bottom.
the BOF, when bottom blowing of stirring gas (6) It is well known that the slag in a BOF contains a
was not yet incorporated. Use of less scrap as a significant fraction of the metal in the form of dro-
coolant might have also led to more reproducibil- plets in the slag phase. The amounts vary during
ity and decreased slopping. the blow, being highest during the middle part of
(4) After a study of several BOF plants, Meyer et al. the blow (Figure 6, Jalkanen and Holappa 2014).
(Meyer et al. 1964, 1968) showed that the rates The estimates vary between 10–25% (Meyer et al.
of peak decarburisation is directly proportional 1968; Kozakovitch 1969; Chatterjee et al. 1976;
to the rate of oxygen blowing (Figure 4). Simi- Cicutti et al. 2000, 2002; Lee and Kolbeinsen
larly, Kattenbelt and Roffel (Kattenbelt and 2007). These droplets are quite fine, most being
Roffel 2008) showed during the blow in a labora- less than 1–2 mm (Lee and Kolbeinsen 2007;
tory sized converter, that the effects of increasing
rate of oxygen blowing rate and decreasing the
lance height on the rate of peak decarburisation
were similar.

Figure 5. Difference in carbon concentration in top and bot-

Figure 3. Decarburisation rate vs progress of blow for two tom of a 8 T pilot converter during the blow (Replotted
heats (a) (Redrawn from Meyer et al. 1964). using data read from Chatterjee et al. 1976).
 MINERAL PROCESSING AND EXTRACTIVE METALLURGY 21

Oxygen jet being almost pure, molecules should

reach the bath surface directly without a significant
mass transfer barrier. When a molecule strikes, it can
do one of the following things:

(a) React with C at the impact site. The reactions

would be:
1
[C] + {O2 } = {CO}
2

Figure 6. Fraction of metal droplets in the emulsion (MFD) and [C] + {O2 } = {CO2 }
foam height (FH) during the blow (Jalkanen and Holappa
2014). (b) It can dissolve in the metal as [O]. This can then
travel elsewhere and react with other oxidisable
elements: O2 = 2[O].
(c) Some of it may react with Fe in the bath producing
Dogan et al. 2011a; Jalkanen and Holappa 2014).
(FeO).
The number of droplets in the emulsion falls
towards the end of the blow. The droplets are 1
Fe + {O2 } = (FeO)
usually in a much more advanced state of refining 2
as compared to the bulk metal bath (Meyer et al.
1968; Cicutti et al. 2000).
This can travel to the slag phase and react with metal
(7) There exists a slag-metal-gas emulsion during
elsewhere.
most of the blow. By about one third of the blow
Each one of these will lead to refining reactions to
the emulsion height exceeds about 2 m, thus sub-
take place at different possible sites in the converter,
merging the lance tip and muting the sound of
leading to, on mixing, overall bath refinement. These
the supersonic jet. Sometimes, the emulsion can
sites are shown schematically in Figure 7.
fill the whole furnace, boiling over the mouth
One should remember that C-O reaction is hetero-
(slopping). Towards the end of the blow beyond
geneous; there is at least one mass transfer step
a critical carbon in the bath, the emulsion collapses
which can be rate limiting. Carbon has to diffuse in
indicating that the emulsion is transitory needing
the metal to the interface. Transfer of oxygen in the
continuous gas generation for its survival (Kozako-
gas phase, dissolved oxygen in the metal phase or
vitch 1969).
FeO in the slag phase may also be involved depending
(8) As mentioned earlier, C, Mn and P are oxidised
on the oxygen source for the reaction.
simultaneously with Si in the initial part of the
Oxygen dissolved may travel to other parts inside
blow, against the expectation of Si reaction being
the metal bath and react with dissolved carbon to
preferred over the other reactions based on bulk
release CO to gas-filled pores in the refractory (site
metal bath composition. Manganese and P reac-
1). CO may also form on solid particles floating in
tions can be explained to some extent by the fact
the metal bath by heterogeneous nucleation (site 2).
of activities in the slag. Carbon reaction cannot
Heterogeneous nucleation may also take place at the
be explained, unless one hypothesises that the
slag layer/metal bath interface (site 3). Homogeneous
bulk metal composition does not prevail at the
nucleation within the bath is highly improbable unless
site of the reaction.
the CO super-saturation is very high (Roddis 1973). As
(9) There is reversal of Mn and P during the middle
mentioned earlier CO reaction may directly take place
part of the blow (Figure 2(b)). This is reflected in
at the impact site (site 5).
the slag path too (Figure 2(c)). It is clear however,
Some of the FeO formed at or near the impact site
that the reversions are correlated with the FeO
may get under the metal bath surface and travel along
content in the slag. CaO dissolution continues
the slag/metal interface, reacting with carbon giving
almost till the end in spite of it being added in
emulsified interface (as in site 3). Bulk of the FeO
the beginning or in the early part of the blow.
formed however probably transfers to the slag
phase. This now gives several possibilities. At the
interface between slag and metal bath, reactions can
Sequence of reactions and reaction sites
take place as mentioned earlier (site 3), oxygen now
Since C determines the overall dynamics of the process coming from the slag phase and carbon from the
as we will see later, we discuss the dynamics with refer- metal.
ence to this reaction taking place vigorously. Other As presented earlier, the slag phase contains a large
reactions can be understood on this framework. number of metal droplets, being continuously
22 G. SNIGDHA ET AL.
Figure 7. Reaction sites in the BOF.
generated by the momentum of the jet at the impact
site. The FeO in the slag therefore can react with
these droplets through various mechanisms:
i CO bubbles may heterogeneously nucleate at the
interface (site 8).
ii CO may be transferred to a passing bubble which
comes in contact with the drop (site 4).
iii CO bubble may homogeneously nucleate inside
the droplet, if the super saturation is very high
(site 6).
If some metal droplet is thrown to the free board, it
may react directly with any oxygen or CO2 in the gas
(site 7).
Though all these sites may be, to some degree, active
during the blow, we need to identify the predominant
mechanism which determines the overall dynamics.
We can evaluate contribution from each of these sites
based on the observations presented in Section 4.
The fact that the bath shows a concentration gradi-
ent in the absence of bottom gas injection, which
disappears with as little as 1% of inert gas being
blown from the bottom in comparison to the top gas
flow (Chatterjee et al. 1976), the mechanisms at sites
1 and 2 may be discounted as being unimportant.
The temperature at the surface at the impact zone
is expected to be above 2400 K (Lee and Kolbeinsen
2007). The rates of the chemical reactions are there-
fore expected to be very high. The area of the impact
site is comparatively small and oxygen arrival rate is
very high. However the solutes need to diffuse to the
interface and the heat has to conduct into the metal.
Fresh metal is brought to the interface which is swept
outward by large surface velocity. Under these cir-
cumstances, one may expect the impact surface
being starved of the solutes leaving behind a layer
of Fe reacting with oxygen. Ultimately it may be
reasonable to assume that a layer of metal of the
bulk metal composition is entirely oxidised, con-
densed phase oxides being transferred to the slag
layer. When the carbon content is about 5 wt% (20–
25 mol%), this approximation would mean that
about 25% of the supplied oxygen is consumed for
 MINERAL PROCESSING AND EXTRACTIVE METALLURGY 23

carbon oxidation (CO and CO2) at this site. Dogan
et al. (2011b) estimated the contribution to be
about 40% based on calculations assuming metal
side mass transfer not to be rate controlling. At one
time this was considered to be the major mechanism
(hot zone or impact zone theory). Metal layer flowing
outward at this site may also get saturated with oxy-
gen as mentioned earlier.
That leaves us with reactions in the emulsion, which
seem to contain major sites for reactions (sites 4, 6 and
8). The droplets in the emulsion have extremely large
specific surface area. In the presence of reasonable
amounts of FeO in the slag, all the refining reactions
in a droplet can take place in a matter of tens of
seconds, instead of minutes as seen in Figure 2. A
3 mm drop of metal containing 4.5% C, evolves
about 3000 times its volume in CO. This as it escapes
through the viscous slag emulsifies it. The complex
interactions of emulsion formation, droplet generation,
droplet residence time, etc., thus contribute largely to
the overall dynamics.
Reactions of droplets reacting with the gas phase
directly is important primarily in the first couple of
minutes of the blow when a complete slag layer has
not yet formed.
A comprehensive look at this overall process
dynamics needs a background on supersonic gas jets,
their interaction with a metal/slag bath, droplet gener-
ation and their residence times, lime dissolution, bath
mixing etc., which are discussed briefly below.
gas. If the ambient is lighter the expansion is less due
to the mass effect (Alam et al. 2010).
In supersonic jets compressibility factor affects jet
expansion. Anderson and Johns (1955) have shown
that the jet doesn’t expand much until the axial velocity
decelerates to the sonic velocity (supersonic core).
Thereafter the jet expands as a subsonic jet as shown
in Figure 8 (Szekely and Themelis 1971). Recent CFD
studies of an oxygen jet into a BOF is shown in Figure 9
illustrating some of these (Odenthal et al. 2006). One
can see that the axial velocity is almost constant for a
distance of almost 1 m and the temperature of the
gas at the axis remains at around −170° C in this
region. Thereafter the temperature increases steadily
due to entrainment of hot gases. Oxygen lances are
therefore operated at an exit Mach no of about two
so that it can be kept at some distance and still effect
good jet/metal interaction.
One may note that if the oxygen jet is submerged in
an atmosphere of CO as in the BOF, the concentration
of oxygen can come down substantially.
Gas metal interaction and droplet
generation
When a high velocity jet hits a metal surface, a crater is
formed, the edges of which are highly unstable due to
the high velocity of the deflected jet, throwing out
metal droplets. At high enough values the jet becomes

Gas jets
A gas-in-gas jet entrains the ambient gas in its periph-
ery. The disturbed layer reaches the jet axis a few nozzle
diameters downstream (potential core region) beyond
which the flow becomes fully developed with self-simi-
lar radial velocity profiles. This velocity profile at some
axial distance from the nozzle can be expressed as Figure 8. Supersonic core of an oxygen jet flowing from a con-
(Abramovich et al. 1984) vergent -divergent nozzle.


r
−0.694
u ruc /2
=e
uc
where u is the velocity at a radial distance r from the jet
axis, uc is the velocity at the jet axis, and r(uc /2) is the
radial distance from the jet axis where u is uc /2.
The axial velocity varies inversely with distance to
maintain momentum conservation:
k j,u u0
uc =
z/r0
where z is the axial distance from the nozzle. The con-
stant kj,u has a value of about 6.2 (Szekely and Themelis
1971; Abramovich et al. 1984). Typically, the jet Figure 9. CFD simulation of the CD nozzle; Mach number and
expands at a half cone of angle of about 10–12° if the temperature distribution for the design point (Odenthal et al.
ambient gas has the same density as that of the jet 2006).
24 G. SNIGDHA ET AL.

re-entrant, where some of the droplets are thrown into

the jet itself leading to a highly unstable crater oscillat-
ing and rotating around (Molloy 1970). In the presence
of a slag layer these droplets are trapped by the slag
leading to droplet-in-slag emulsion.
The crater depth e can be calculated by performing a
momentum balance at the stagnation point at the cen-
ter of the crater (Bradshaw and Richardson 1970):
k2j,uu2o rg
e= . .
2g (z/ro )2 rl
Turkdogan (1996) modified this with a constant based
on his experiments with various liquids and gases at
room temperature.
Turner and Jahanshahi (1987) studied quantitat-
ively the emulsification phenomena with the help of a
2-D, two phase model of mercury and glycerol. They
found, as expected, that the droplets in the emulsion Figure 10. Effect of top gas flow rate on the droplet generation
increased with gas flow rate and varied inversely with rate (Subagyo et al. 2003).
stand-off distance of the lance tip from the liquid sur-
face (lance height). He and Standish (Standish and He
1989; He and Standish 1990) experimented with a 3-D In a supersonic jet, say of Mach 2, the exit gas tempera-
model of water to determine the droplet generation ture is about 170 K. Thereafter, it entrains lower den-
rate with a top layer representing slag. It was found sity furnace gas. The temperature, velocity and
that there are two regions: one at a lower flow rate composition of the gas change as the jet strikes the
where the rate increases nonlinearly with flow rate bath. Therefore this correlation has large uncertainties,
and the second where the rate varies almost linearly because of which usefulness of the correlation in the
with the flow rate. The Weber number BOF model is less than adequate. Since there is no
other correlation, one normally uses the above corre-
rg u2j lation for generation of droplets and tune it as needed.
NWe = √
sg rl The reaction rates also depend on droplet sizes. Sev-
eral researchers have obtained emulsion samples from
was used to characterise this flow phenomena. Here uj
working BOFs or laboratory hot models. They have
is the nominal gas velocity at the stagnation point in
found in general the sizes to be in the range of 0.05–
the absence of the liquid. Subagyo et al. (2003)
3 mm (Meyer et al. 1968; Cicutti et al. 2000, 2002).
defined a Blow number, NB, to measure the intensity
In the experiments of Koria and Lange (1984) with
of the jet metal interaction-
pig iron and oxygen, there were large chunks of liquids
NB = 0.1 NWe thrown out, which would normally spend negligible
amount of time in the emulsion. Interestingly, they
Droplet generation rate RB (kg/sec) was then corre-
found that the droplet size distribution follows Rosin-
lated experimentally as a function of the blow number
Rammler- Sperling distribution:
as follows-

n
d
RB NB3.2 R = 100exp(− ′
= (2.11) d
FG 2.6 × 106 + 2 × 104 × (NB )0.2
Where, R is the cumulative weight of the drop retained
where, where FG is volumetric flow rate of the gas,
in the sieve of diameter d and d′ is characteristic dro-
Nm3/s. The data from He and Standish (Standish
plet size related to 36.8% weight is retained. The expo-
and He 1989; He and Standish 1990) were also used
nent n is a constant and is dependent only on the
in the correlation. Figure 10 shows the effect of top
homogeneity of the drop sizes. One can instead
gas flow rate on the droplet generation rate (g/sec).
define a limiting maximum size for which retained
He and Standish (1990) had further shown that simul-
weight R is 0.1%. Then the distribution can be written
taneous bottom gas injection can increase droplet gen-
as:
eration especially when they were nearly coaxial with
the top jet. These results were obtained from model 1.26
R = 100(0.001)(d/dlimit ) .
studies with subsonic jets of air and at room tempera-
ture. Moreover, there was no slag phase, presence of dlimit needs to be fitted into the actual plant measure-
which can change the rate of generation substantially. ments. Though these approximations and correlations

are clearly inadequate, most modellers use these for
lack of better correlations.
Droplets in the emulsion
Kozakovitch (1969) found large amounts of metallic
droplets in the foamy slag formed during high phos-
phorous iron refining. Meyer et al. (1968) made similar
observations by collecting samples ejected through the
tap hole in a 230 T BOF converter and analyzing them.
Many investigators have also made similar observation.
As mentioned earlier the droplets were in various states
of advanced refining, some of them being almost com-
pletely refined, though the bath still had considerable
amount of carbon. The fraction of metal in the emul-
sion were estimated to be large, being almost 25% of
the bath weight. This would correspond to a surface
area of about 40000 m2 if one assumes an average
size of 1 mm for the droplets. Meyer et al. (1964) pro-
posed that refining in the BOF takes place primarily in
the emulsion phase, the bath seeing refining by dilution
from droplets falling back (emulsion theory). Emulsion
in the BOF language refers to a slag-metal-gas system.
One can visualise it as a slag-gas foam in which metal
droplets are distributed.
Meyer et al. (1968) also reported that many of the
droplets displayed high oxygen super-saturation and
postulated that the finer droplets might have been gen-
erated by homogeneous nucleation of CO and droplet
bursting. Some droplets showed evidences of being
attached to gas bubbles and some were even hollow.
There were many experiments with magnetically
levitated and freely falling droplets reacting with oxi-
dising gases (Baker et al. 1964; Robertson and Jenkins
1970; Roddis 1973; See and Warner 1973). The results
were interesting. When the carbon content is high one
would see reactions taking place at the surface, as evi-
denced by CO burning. As the carbon contents come
down, small droplets are thrown out indicating subsur-
face nucleation. Further lower in carbon content, the
droplets sometimes burst, indicating oxygen super-sat-
uration and nucleation deep within the droplet. Super-
saturation to the extent of about 50 atmosphere (for
equilibrium CO) had been reported at the time of dro-
plet bursting (El Kaddah and Robertson 1977, 1978).
Price (1974) measured the residence time of the dro-
plets in a BOF vessel by radioactive gold isotope tracer
technique. The maximum residence time of droplets
which are in advanced state of decarburisation has
been estimated to be about 2 min. Residence time cal-
culated on the basis of free fall is of the order of a few
seconds even while considering the slag to be emul-
sified to much greater height. The high residence
time therefore needs an explanation.
Several experiments (Min and Fruehan 1992; Mollo-
seau and Fruehan 2002; Coley 2013) using X-rays for
visualisation of a single iron-carbon drop reacting in
MINERAL PROCESSING AND EXTRACTIVE METALLURGY 25
molten oxidising slags have shown that the drop gets
buoyed up to the surface as soon as decarburisation
starts, and stays at the surface till CO bubbling sub-
sides. For example, Min and Fruehan (1992) have
investigated a single droplet with X-ray fluoroscopy
and confirmed an existence of a gas halo around the
metal droplet during fast reaction period, the droplet
remaining at the surface of the slag. They also
confirmed that the droplet remains largely intact
though the pictures become hazy when the gas halo
is present. The pictures show that droplet residence
time is dependent on bubble formation which keeps
the droplet afloat.
There are two views on how the CO formation keeps
the drop buoyant. Dogan and coworkers (Dogan et al.
2011c) have formulated a bloated drop theory wherein
CO forms homogeneously inside the drop and this hol-
low drop has a low apparent density, due to which it
remains afloat. The other view is that the bubbles
form heterogeneously at the drop/slag interface and
as long as the bubbles stay attached to the drop they
keep it afloat (Sarkar et al. 2015). The visual evidences
from X-ray fluoroscopic studies cannot clearly dis-
tinguish between these two. The fact that there does
not seem to be a nucleation barrier during vigorous
deoxidation as evidenced by copious evolution of
bubbles suggests interface nucleation. At high carbon
concentrations when carbon mass transfer within the
drop is not rate controlling, the highest CO supersa-
turation should be seen at the drop surface. One there-
fore expects the nucleation to take place
heterogeneously at the surface, the bubble spending
some time at the interface before detaching. Since
there may be several bubbles attached, the drop
remains buoyed. As carbon falls to low values, nuclea-
tion at the interface becomes sporadic, and in periods
when there is no bubble attached, oxygen dissolves
into the metal and diffuses in. Thus the highest super-
saturation region moves inward, first to subsurface and
then to deep inside the drop. One may therefore see
subsurface nucleation initially throwing out small dro-
plets and then deep inside, as seen by El-Kaddah and
Robertson (1977). These homogeneous nucleation
events are probably sporadic, with a stochastic nature.
Simultaneously the apparent density of the drop with
no or few bubbles is now high and it falls down into
the metal bath. The critical carbon content when the
droplet falls down would depend on droplet size, the
oxidising potential of the slag (and the rate of mass
transfer of FeO) and the sporadic nucleation event
either at the surface or inside the droplet. Empirical
work to correctly predict the critical carbon content
is lacking. Evidence from levitated drop experiments
too point towards these series of events, though the
stirring due to the electro-magnetic field makes the
condition different from that in the BOF especially
with respect to mass transfer within the drop.
26 G. SNIGDHA ET AL.
Mass transfer in the emulsion
Rates of mass transfer ṅ′′i to droplets in the emulsion is
normally given as:
ṅ′′i = A.km,i .(Cib − Cii )
where A is the surface area, km,i is the mass transfer
coefficient for the species i and Cbi , and Cii are concen-
tration of the species in the bulk slag and at the inter-
face respectively. Mass transfer coefficients in the
continuous phase, in dimensionless correlation form,
on droplets where the interface is vigorously stirred
by bubble formation and detachment, by carefully
crafted direct measurements are not available. For
solutes in the metal phase, one can make an approxi-
mation based on Higbie’s surface renewal theory
(Dogan et al. 2011b, p 1093):

2 Di .ud
km,i = . of the porous elements through which the gas is intro-
p rd
where Di is the diffusivity of the solute, ud is the vel-
ocity of the drop with respect to the fluid outside and
rd is its radius. This is based on the assumption that
the liquid inside the droplet recirculates with no signifi-
cant viscous resistance. For very small drops, on the
other hand, one may make a rigid drop approximation,
and estimate the mass transfer coefficient to be of the
order of Di/(rd/3). In the slag phase one often takes a
value in the range of 10−5–10−4 m/s as an estimate,
for lack of data. In the context of BOF this is clearly
inadequate, since the droplet surface is continuously
disturbed by bubbles. This has two counteracting
effects. Part of the drop surface is covered by the gas
bubble and is not available for mass transfer from the
slag to the drop. The drop surface is also vigorously
stirred by the formation and detachment of bubbles,
enhancing mass transfer locally. Several indirect esti-
mations have been made. For example, Gu et al.
(2016) made indirect estimation of mass transfer coeffi-
cient for FeO in slag for phosphorus transfer rate in
high temperature single drop experiments, and got
values between 10−5 and 10−4 m/s. Molloseau and
Fruehan (2002) estimated similar values. Proper exper-
imental studies, both in cold and hot models, are
necessary to get reasonable correlations in terms of
dimensionless variables.
Mixing within the metal bath
Though the slag is very well stirred in the BOF due to
the gas jet and a large amount of gas passing through it,
the metal bath in top blown converters is compara-
tively poorly. Measurement of mixing time (t95) in
top blown BOF can be as high as 150–180 s, as com-
pared to 10–20 s in bottom blown OBM converters.
Direct evidence of poor mixing was provided by Chat-
terjee et al. (1976) as explained earlier. This has
consequence on the reaction dynamics, since the
metal droplets are removed from the top layer and
the refined droplets from the emulsion fall back at
the top. Since much of the heat is also released in the
slag, the slag and the droplets falling back are also hot-
ter. There can also be composition and temperature
stratification due to the scrap at the bottom slowly dis-
solving into the metal.
High mixing times also correspond to high irrepro-
ducibility in mixing times, leading to irreproducible
blow behaviour in the absence of bottom blowing.
For example, a large eddy of metal containing higher
carbon from the bottom being brought to the surface
of the metal bath can suddenly increase the rate of dec-
arburisation leading to instabilities. Inert gas injection
from the bottom of the converters to bring down the
mixing time, therefore, has become standard practice.
Since the rate of bottom gas injection and the position
duced have a bearing on the reaction dynamics, it is
necessary to quantify the mixing behaviour for quanti-
tative predictions of composition and temperature
evolution. A single average t95 value is inadequate for
incorporation into a comprehensive model of the
BOF since two different mixing curves can give the
similar t90 and different t95 values (Figure 11). The
compromise can therefore be a two parameter model,
based on estimation of two mixing times, say t90 and
t95. One can then idealise the metal bath as consisting
of two stirred tank reactors (STR), exchanging metal
continuously (Krishnakumar et al. 1999). The bottom
part will see only scrap melting and the top part will
see all other phenomena explained earlier. The two
parameters of this model, ratio of reactor sizes and
the metal exchange rate, can then be fitted to the mix-
ing times of the converter under various conditions of
operation.
Lime dissolution
The BOF needs to maintain a good fluid slag of high
basicity (high CaO content) so that the large amount
of CO generated can be handled, and P can be removed
efficiently. Operators therefore try to obtain a CaO/
SiO2 ratio in excess of 3.0 in the final slag. Figure 12
(a) shows the liquidus contours in a CaO-SiO2-FeO
ternary diagram (Verein Deutscher Eisen.(VDEh).
1995 or Slag Atlas). It is clearly seen that a CaO/SiO2
ratio that one can achieve in this system at 1350°C,
i.e. at the beginning of a blow is limited to about 1.6–
1.7. Marginal improvement may take place with MgO
additions (Figure 12(b)) and some Al2O3 coming
from the carry over slag (Verein 1995). In the final
slag too at 1650°C with 25–30% FeO, the maximum
CaO/SiO2 remains less than 3.0. This is also borne
out by the slag analyses which often show un-dissolved
lime. Apart from the issue of solubility of CaO in BOF
 MINERAL PROCESSING AND EXTRACTIVE METALLURGY 27

Figure 11. Two schematic mixing curves with same t90 and different t95 values.

Figure 12. Phase Diagram (a) Liquidus isotherms of CaO-SiO2-FeO system (b) Effect of MgO addition on the liquidus (Scheel 1975).
28 G. SNIGDHA ET AL.
slags, the lime particles get passivated in the presence of
highly siliceous slags. Since the CaO concentration is
the highest at the surface of a dissolving lime particle,
dicalcium silicate forms here. This compound is not
only highly refractory, it forms an adherent layer
retarding further dissolution (Derge 1967). A lime par-
ticle remaining undissolved for long at the high temp-
eratures also sinters and becomes less reactive. One
way of breaking the adherent layer is to have high
FeO content in the slag. This is the reason for the prac-
tice of raised lance blowing in the first few minutes of
the blow, when the FeO is built up to 25–35% or higher.
Though the effect on solubility of CaO is marginal
(Figure 12), this facilitates breaking of the adherent
dicalcium silicate layer permitting further dissolution.
Additives like fluorspar (CaF2) can bring about this
effect much more efficiently, though this is not an
acceptable plant practice in recent times for various
reasons.
Process flow and reaction dynamics
With this brief review of the several phenomena of
interest in the BOF, we can now take a comprehensive
look at the BOF process dynamics. The contents of the
BOF can be divided into several important regions: the
metal bath, which itself can be divided into the bottom
and top part between which there is exchange of metal,
Figure 13. Reaction sites in the BOF during the initial period (no slag layer).
the oxygen jet and the impact region, and the slag
region which mostly is in the form of a slag-metal-
gas emulsion.
There are three distinct regimes in the blow. The
initial part is characterised by a bare metal bath covered
with islands of solid lime and some slag carried over
from the previous heat (Figure 13). Jet of oxygen hits
the metal bath and does two primary things. First, it
oxidises almost an entire layer of the metal giving
CO, SiO2, MnO, P2O5 and lots of FeO as discussed ear-
lier. Not all oxygen is consumed in this location, and
the gas above therefore may contain high ratio of
CO2/CO and some oxygen as seen in exhaust gas
analysis (Jalkanen and Holappa 2014). The jet also
throws droplets into the gas phase, which after free
flight fall back. Since the gas is oxidising, the droplets
get refined during the flight. At the surface of the
drops, the order of reactions should be dictated by
thermodynamics.
For each of the solutes, reaction will involve mass
transfer steps: mass transfer of CO2/O2 in the gas
phase and of the solutes in the liquid phase. The inter-
facial chemical reactions are expected to be very fast at
this temperature. The order of the reactions can be
obtained by solving the mass transfer equations along
with free energy minimisation for the interface reac-
tions competing for oxygen. The order is normally Si
and Mn followed by C and P. Since the time of flight

is typically of the order of a second or lower, the dro-
plets fall back probably completing only part of the sili-
con reaction. Smaller the drop, further will the refining
proceed due to larger specific surface area. Reaction at
the rest of the surface of the metal bath should be small
due to smaller surface area compared to that of the dro-
plets. The mass transfer in the gas phase can easily be
calculated by Ranz-Marshall type correlations (Bird
et al. 1960). At this initial phase of the process droplets
are high in solutes, and the gas phase mass transfer is
expected to be rate controlling. The small drops can
be considered as rigid and one can assume pure diffu-
sion of solutes inside the droplets. The mass transfer
coefficient then can be of the order of Di/(rd/3),
where Di is the diffusivity and rd is the droplet radius.
When the drops fall back the condensed phase
oxide products in the droplets remain at the top of
the bath, and on combining with the oxides from
the impact site and the fluxes added start forming
a molten slag. As mentioned earlier good amount
of FeO is formed at the impact site, and therefore
liquid slag formation should be easy. After some
time, there will be a liquid slag layer covering the
metal bath. Increasingly more and more drops will
now be thrown to the slag. The drops ejected into
the gas phase now have to pass through the slag
phase before reaching the metal bath. Further refin-
ing therefore takes place in the slag. Initially when
the slag layer is thin and the drops are high enough
in silicon and manganese, the drops will fall through
before the carbon reaction starts, viz., with no gas
evolution, especially for larger drops. Smaller drops
high in carbon may however start to decarburise
early releasing CO, and slowly emulsifying the slag.
This early phase is characterised by a low flame at
the mouth, since CO formation is comparatively
low. Once the silicon in the metal bath falls to
some extent, the desiliconization progresses consider-
ably before the droplet has fallen down. Carbon reac-
tion starts and the droplet now stays buoyed in the
emulsion till its carbon content reaches the critical
carbon content as explained earlier. In the slag
phase, the rate is expected to be controlled by slag
phase mass transfer of FeO, as long as carbon in
the drop remains high enough. Once a critical carbon
is reached in the droplet, bubbling slows down and
then ceases, and the drop falls down. The critical car-
bon is largely determined by the FeO content in the
bath. Quickly the emulsion builds up and we enter
the second phase of reactions in the emulsion. The
flame at the mouth becomes large. The lance tip
gets dipped into the emulsion.
In the second phase almost all of the droplets are
ejected into the emulsion, and the gas phase reactions
become unimportant. One should note that the resi-
dence times of the quiescent droplets in the slag are
only of the order of a few seconds unless
MINERAL PROCESSING AND EXTRACTIVE METALLURGY 29
decarburisation reaction starts. To maximise the refin-
ing therefore one should quickly reach a stage where
the decarburisation reaction starts before the drops
fall back. One way to accelerate the reactions is to
keep the FeO content in the slag high. Another reason
why FeO should be increased as early as possible is to
have a fluid slag by the time decarburisation rate
reaches its highest value, since the large amount of
gases should quickly escape from the slag. Else, the
emulsion height will build up uncontrollably leading
to overflow, and slopping.
The FeO content in the slag is a balance between its
generation at the point of impact and its consumption
by the droplets in the emulsion. The FeO generation is
probably weakly dependent of the lance height,
whereas a high lance leads to less droplet generation
due to lower force with which the jet strikes the
metal bath, and vice versa. Hence a raised lance prac-
tice, called the soft blow, leads to quick increase in
the FeO content in the slag. This facilitates lime dissol-
ution and formation of a fluid slag. The initial soft
blow, normally 3–4 min, is the normal plant practice.
At an optimum moment the lance is lowered to
induce high rates of reactions. Droplet generation
rates are high, the bath is already desiliconized hence
the droplets undergo vigorous decarburisation till car-
bon goes to low values before falling back. During this
period of peak decarburisation rates, therefore a large
part of the metal bath remains in the emulsion as dro-
plets. These droplets have spent various times in the
emulsion and therefore are in various stages of refine-
ment. The degree of refinement also depends on the
droplet size. The droplet are therefore characterised
by two variables; the time it was formed (and therefore
its age) and the size of the droplet. The droplet starts to
fall back when a characteristic carbon content is
reached, which depends on its size, the slag FeO and
temperature. During this last phase of the droplets,
the oxygen potential at the interface is also high and
therefore phosphorus is also removed if other con-
ditions are favourable. Falling drops results in apparent
refinement of the top of the metal bath, which on mix-
ing lead to refinement of the rest of the bath. Since the
time for refinement of a drop may be of the order of ½–
2 min, one sees drop in C, Mn and P in the bulk metal
sample even if Si in the sample is still significant
(Figure 2).
The overall rate of reaction, to some extent, is self-
correcting. If the number of droplets in the emulsion
come down decreasing the rate, the level of the metal
bath increases leading to lower effective lance distance,
which in turn causes droplet generation to increase
(Meyer et al. 1964). This is one of the reasons for the
near constant decarburisation rate during middle part
of the blow. One should however note that the C con-
tent of droplets entering into the emulsion keeps falling
down, and therefore their residence time. One needs to
30 G. SNIGDHA ET AL.

correspondingly increase the droplet generation rate by equation, one instead writes an equation for a phos-
progressively lowering the lance. Figure 14 indicates phate capacity CPO3−
4
of slag as
the lance height variation during a typical blow (Cicutti
⎛ ⎞
et al. 2000). 1 5
As the bath itself becomes low in carbon in the final ⎜ ⎟
CPO3−
4
= (%P)slag /⎝ p2p2 . p4O2 ⎠,
phase of the blow, the rate now gets limited by carbon
diffusion within the droplet even as it enters the emul-
sion. The CO generation is low and is not able to keep
and correlates the phosphate capacity to the slag com-
the droplets floated. The residence time drops down to
position empirically. Both these approaches are con-
a few seconds, and therefore number of droplets in the
ceptually similar. The partial pressures of P2 and O2
emulsion comes down even though the lance height
can easily be converted to wt% dissolved in metal or
has been brought down to the lowest level permissible
activity of FeO in slag with known thermodynamic
for lance health. The emulsion dies down. One sees at
data. The slag data as a function of composition either
this time falling rates of decarburisation and fast
as γP2O5 or as CPO3− have been empirically determined
buildup of FeO in the slag. Since the rates are low, 4
by several researchers. The progress of partition coeffi-
the FeO content and the oxygen dissolved in steel
cient LP for P between bulk slag and bulk metal can be
increase much beyond what is dictated by C-O equili-
calculated when the slag analysis during the blow is
brium. At this period one therefore raises the argon
known as has been done for example by Basu et al.
stirring rate, increasing thereby the droplet generation
(2007) (Figure 15). Similar calculations have been
rate without adding extra oxygen. This helps to some
done, for example, by Diao et al. (2015) and others.
extent.
In the initial times of the blow, the bath carbon is
quite high and contains silicon too. Therefore at the
Phosphorus reaction slag/metal bath interface, the oxygen potential remains
low. One therefore does not expect very high rates of
Phosphorus removal is sometimes a problem in the
dephosphorization at the bulk metal/slag interface.
BOF operation and may result in re-blows, especially
The metal droplets on the other hand get highly
when the input phosphorus in the hot metal is high
refined in a matter of 1–2 min, and before returning
(∼0.2%). Though the conditions are generally favour-
to the metal bath have high oxygen potential at its
able in the final slag with high FeO and high basicity,
interface. Further the partition coefficient LP at this
one can land in adverse situation if the slag regime is
time is high since FeO content is high due to soft
not carefully managed throughout the blow.
blow, temperature is low, albeit with some CaO yet
The thermodynamics of phosphorus is well known.
to dissolve. The number of droplets in the emulsion
One can write the reaction either in terms of molecular
is also very large. Therefore the dephosphorization
species or in the ionic form:
rate is very high as can be seen in Figure 2. Towards
5 the end of the blow again, the conditions in the slag
P2 + O2 (g) = P2 O5 (l)
2 are favourable with high FeO and high basicity, though
1 5 3 now the temperature would have risen substantially.
P2 + O2 (g) + O2− = (PO3−
4 ) The rate of phosphorus removal however is not very
2 4 2
high in this period, since the number of droplets is
In the former case one writes an equilibrium con-
stant as K = γP2O5.XP2O5/(p2P2.p2.5
O2), and expresses the
Raoultian activity coefficient, γP2O5, as a function of
slag composition. If one adopts an ionic form of the

Figure 15. The progress of partition coefficient P between bulk

Figure 14. Lance height variation (Cicutti et al. 2000). slag and bulk metal during the blow (Basu et al. 2007).

not very high, surface area is quite small and therefore
all reactions are slow. Vigorous argon stirring is helpful
at this time of the blow, and for some time after the
oxygen flow is stopped, though to a limited extent.
It is in the middle part of the blow one has the great-
est opportunity for efficient overall dephosphorization.
After the soft blow when the lance is lowered progress-
ively for effecting high rates of decarburisation, FeO
content in the slag significantly drops and remains
low till the emulsion starts collapsing. The slag
becomes comparatively ‘dry.’ The LP becomes adverse,
and one can easily get phosphorus reversal to the metal
as can be seen in Figure 3. Lower the FeO level greater
the reversal. This reversal increases the load on the last
part of the blow where the rates of reactions are anyway
low as explained earlier.
Close control of the FeO content during the middle
part of the blow is therefore necessary if one desires to
make low phosphorus steel. Premature lowering of the
lance in each stage can lead to very low FeO content (<
12–15%). FeO content is determined by the balance
between droplet generation rate (consumption rate)
and the FeO generation rate as explained earlier. One
should also note that very low FeO in the slag lowers
decarburisation rate too. Very high FeO on the other
hand leads to sloppy conditions.
One can achieve higher levels of FeO content by
modifying the lance practice. The lance height for the
intermediate levels can be kept slightly higher than
the normal. One can also slightly delay lowering of
the lance, taking care to see that it does not lead to
uncontrolled emulsion build up. One can achieve this
by distributed ore addition during this period too
(Ogasawara et al. 2013).
Dynamic modelling
Since an extensive review of dynamic models is beyond
the scope of this paper, a brief review of the more
recent attempts is presented here.
Though the dynamic modelling efforts had started
fairly early in the history of the BOF (Asai and
Muchi 1970), enhanced emphasis on model based con-
trol has led to renewed interest in the subject. Due to
lack of good data for quantitative description and
some lack of clarity in the understanding of the reac-
tion dynamics itself, most of these models have adjus-
table parameters which can make the predictions
match with plant data fairly well. Many models have
concentrated on one or the other aspects of the process
dynamics. Shukla et al. (2010), for example, have
adopted a thermodynamic approach, distributing the
oxygen among solutes based on the Gibbs energy of
oxidation without consideration of the kinetic aspects.
Model by Kattenbelt and Roffel (2008) is based on their
experiments on step response to process variables, and
uses simple empirical kinetic equations to model the
MINERAL PROCESSING AND EXTRACTIVE METALLURGY 31
dynamics. The model by Pahlevani et al. (2010) has
kinetic approach to the reaction; however, the detailed
description of the reaction sites and their contribution
is lacking. The oxygen has been partitioned in the ratio
of 20:70: 10 between carbon, iron and post combustion
of CO to CO2 at the impact site; the FeO then reacts
with solutes in the metal. The model by Kruskopf
and Visuri (2017) calculates the reaction progress by
free energy minimisation to partition the oxygen
between various elements; it however considers a single
reaction zone in a lumped fashion.
Models by Dogan et al. (2011a) and Sarkar et al.
(2015) incorporate most of the details of the dynamics
discussed earlier. Dogan et al. (2011b) divided the pro-
cess into two conceptual reactors: the metal bath and
the slag-metal emulsion. The reactions are primarily
at the impact zone (Dogan et al. 2011a, p. 1086) in
the metal bath and at droplets distributed in the emul-
sion (Dogan et al. 2011b, p. 1093). Aspects like droplet
generation rates, droplet residence times were included
in the model description; reactions of other solutes like
Si and Mn are however not included. Overall the model
is quite comprehensive. Sarkar et al. (2015) divided the
furnace into three well-stirred reactors, the metal bath
being divided into two to account for mixing times.
Solutes like C, Si and Mn are taken into account, the
oxygen partition being calculated by mass transfer
steps as well as free energy minimisation at the interface
of droplets. Both these models use a single average dro-
plet size and assume a temperature evolution pattern.
Further developments in the model of Sarkar et al.
(2015) incorporating droplet size distribution using
RRS distribution and tracking the age of droplets of
each size have been made (Ghosh 2014; Biswas 2015).
Improvement in quantitative understanding of
many of the phenomena like those at the impact site
and at bubble stirred droplets is expected to lead to
models that can be used for control and optimisation
with greater confidence.
Summary
The BOF process is a process of very high kinetics, the
reactions taking place at multiple locations. The jet-
liquid interaction and the carbon oxygen reaction gen-
erating a gaseous product have enormous effects on the
overall process dynamics. Several sub-processes need
to be well understood, quantitatively, for a full descrip-
tion of the process. Some of these processes still need
further work to put models for the process on a firm
footing. This paper has attempted to present a compre-
hensive view of the process dynamics with the present
understanding of the sub-processes.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
32 G. SNIGDHA ET AL.
ORCID
Ballal N. Bharath http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6966-0021
Nurni N. Viswanathan http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0278-
1333
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