DESIGN AND OPERATING FEATURES OF NEW 27.

6 MVA FURNACE AT
NAVA BHARAT VENTURES LIMITED, PALONCHA
Y.Poornachandra Rao, L.Malakondaiah and P.C.Sudhakar
Production and Quality Control, Nava Bharat Ventures Limited, Paloncha
Andhra Pradesh, India
Email: [email protected]
ABSTRACT
NBV commissioned a 27.6 MVA furnace in the year 2005. This paper explains:
a) Furnace design features
b) Furnace process control, Direct slag granulation
c) Continuous casting, Waste heat recovery, Sintering
d) Gas cleaning plant, Protection of Environment.
Keywords: Furnace Equipment, SiMn Production, Casting, Heat Recovery and Low hood
1. INTRODUCTION
Nava Bharat Ventures Limited (Formerly Nava Bharat Ferro Alloys Limited) started operations with produc-
tion of ferro silicon in a 16.5 MVA furnace of Russian design, at Paloncha in Andhra Pradesh in 1975. Two
more furnaces of 16.5 MVA each were subsequently installed to increase the plant capacity. All the three fur-
naces were open type submerged arc furnaces of high hood design with the power supplying cables passing
through the hood. The plant was originally producing ferro silicon and calcium silicide. To improve the con-
tribution, the company switched over to manufacture of high carbon ferro chrome and later on to manganese
alloys. In 1997, the company set up a green field plant with two furnaces of 22.5 MVA each in Orissa and
started manufacture of high carbon ferro chrome.
To enhance the capacity and modernize production, the company installed a new 27.6 MVA furnace at its
ferro alloy plant in Andhra Pradesh in 2005.
The company's ferro alloy plant in Andhra Pradesh today produces manganese alloys with a total installed
capacity of 125,000 tonnes per annum while the ferro alloy plant in Orissa produces ferro chrome with an
installed capacity of 75,000 tonnes per annum.
To control the cost of power which was increasing rapidly in India at that time, the company set up captive
power plants in the premises of its ferro alloy plants in Andhra Pradesh as well as Orissa . The power plant
in AP has a capacity of 114 MW. The power plant in Orissa has a present capacity of 30 MW, which is under
expansion to 94 MW.
The Quality and Environmental Management Systems are certified as per ISO 9001: 2000 and ISO
14001:2004
192 INFACON XI
The company has a divisional structure as delineated below:
This paper presents the design and operating features of the 27.6 MVA furnace at the company's ferro alloy
plant in Andhra Pradesh and related systems.
2. DESIGN FEATURES
The 27.6 MVA furnace adopts low hood design, which protects mechanical and electrical fittings from flames
and heat, facilitates easy maintenance and reduces fugitive emissions.
The furnace is equipped with a modern electrode position regulator, hydraulic holder and electrode column
of PYROMET design. In this design, the bus tubes, water-cooling pipes from pressure ring and lower elec-
trode are concealed in a water-cooled heat shield. The traditional nut-and-screw contact shoes/pressure rings
are replaced by metallic bellows, which are more compact and concealed. This system enhances the life of
pressure ring components and provides better slipping and position control.
The furnace transformers are arranged on three sides and placed on the top of the hood to reduce secondary
losses in bus bars.
3. FURNACE OPERATION
3.1 Process Control:
Process control is mainly based on analysis of tapping samples in each shift and daily analysis of finished
product stacks. The possible raw material corrections are also based on visual observations of tappings such
as slag and metal temperatures and slag fluidity. The material burden sheet is prepared based on a computer
optimized material balance.
Furnace eruptions are controlled through a set of safe operation procedures comprising:
a) Reducing amount of fines from 20% to 12% by using appropriate screens.
b) Decreasing the available oxygen through the usage of sinter
c) Early tapping so that accumulation of metal pool is avoided.
d) Maintaining higher basicity of slag.
e) Surface raking of charge material.
f) Avoiding moisture in rainy seasons by covering raw materials with tarpaulins.
The specific power consumption for 60-65grade of silico manganese is around 3600-3800 kWh/MT. The
manganese recovery achieved from the charge is around 85%.
The company has installed a PYROMET furnace controller which uses one of the latest and advanced re-
sistance based control systems. It operates the tap changer, lowers or raises the electrodes and maintains the
furnace load within specified range at the given resistance set point.
FERRO ALLOY DIVISION POWER DIVISION SUGAR DIVISION
Ferro Alloy Plant (A.P.P
Manganese Ferro Alloys
Capacity 125,000 TPA
Power Plant (A.P.)
Capacity 114 MW
Sugar Plant
Capacity 3500TCD
White Crystal Sugar
Rectified Spirit, ENA
Co-gen of Power
Ferro Alloy Plant (Orissa)
Chromium Ferro Alloys
Capscity 75,000 TPA
Power Plant (Orissa)
Capacity 30MW
(under expansion to 94MW)
New green field project
Capacity 2500 TCD
with co-gen of power
& prodn of bio-fuel
Design and Operating Features of New 27.6 MVA... 193
Batching of raw materials with the help of bins and feeding hoppers and charging by means of skip hoist
and rotary car distributor are done through a PLC based control system. The feeding system is robust, accu-
rate, precise and flexible to charge different raw materials. The same PLC controls all the furnace blowers
and motors.
The advantages of the above system are:
1. Reduction in manpower for operation and maintenance.
2. Lower specific power and indication of possible burden corrections
The design features of the furnace and the automation described above coupled with the rigorous mainte-
nance practices followed, has helped the company achieve furnace availability above 98%.
3.2 Direct Slag Granulation
The method of collecting slag from cascaded slag pots and granulation in a pit is time consuming and requires
multiple crane operations. The company has therefore adopted direct granulation for the new 27.6 MVA fur-
nace, which produces more slag volume due to the higher capacity of the furnace. The liquid slag passes
through a closed launder before impinging against a jet of pressurized water. The closed launder prevents
spread of steam during granulation. The slag granules fall into a granulation pit from where they are collected
with the help of a grab. This practice eliminates crane handling of slag pot and saves time. With MnO up to
12 per cent and basicity greater than 0.6, the slag has high fluidity which facilitates direct granulation.
3.3 Continuous Casting
Casting of alloy is automated with a continuous casting machine consisting of a synchronized automatic
ladle tilter and continuously moving moulds. Different speeds are employed for casting different grades of
alloys, as the solidification time is different for each alloy.
The advantages with the continuous casting adopted are:
1. No contamination with foreign material.
2. Faster solidification of alloy than in bed casting.
3. Less manpower for breaking the metal to the final size as the size of alloy cake is much smaller than bed
cast cakes
4. Less generation of fines
5. Uniform distribution of size (20 - 70 mm)
3.4 Waste Heat Recovery System
The company (NBV) has installed a heat exchanger to utilize the heat available in the furnace flue gases, for
heating the boiler feed water and main condensate of 32 MW Captive Power Plant located in the same premis-
es. The heat exchanger is of cross flow type with two passes. The first pass is called as HPHX and the second
pass is called as LPHX. The flue gases are passed vertically downwards over bundles of horizontal water
tubes in HPHX and upwards in LPHX. Feed water and main condensate are heated in HPHX and LPHX re-
spectively. The flue gas coming from the furnace passes over HPHX first, later over LPHX and finally enters
Gas Cleaning Plant (GCP) through an ID fan.
The WHRS gives the following benefits:
1. Improved life of GCP bags.
2. Reduced maintenance cost of GCP
3. Reduced power consumption of Induced Draught Fan
4. Reduced specific steam consumption of Power Plant Turbine
194 INFACON XI
3.5 Sintering of Fines
Sintering is a well-known and established method for use of Mn ore fines. The sintering process adopted in
NBV is pan sintering with a plant capacity of 80 MT per day. Dolomite is added up to 1 percent for self-flux-
ing of sinter. The burn through velocity is low in this sintering process. The sinters are of good quality and
the return sinter fines are around 25% to 30%, which is on par with international practice.
The suspended particulate matter collected in the Gas Cleaning Plants is added to the sintering pans in order
to recycle Mn units, which go as a waste otherwise, and, for maintaining appropriate Mn/Fe ratio in the sin-
tered material. The sintering technology so developed is environment friendly.
3.6 Gas Cleaning Plant:
Filter bag technology is used for cleaning the furnace gases after passing though the Waste Heat Recovery
System. The filter bags are capable of collecting suspended particulate matter up to 20 microns size and han-
dling volumetric flow rate of gases up to 300000 Nm3/hr. The stack emissions are kept well below 100-mg/
Nm3 helping NBV comply with the stringent environment regulations and the related legal requirements on
air quality.
3.7 Protection of Environment:
The company has taken several steps to protect the environment. The significant practices adopted are:
1. Supply of granulated slag for use in manufacture of Pozzolana cement, fly ash bricks and as partial sub-
stitute for sand for concrete rings and concrete roads.
2. Sintering of Mn fume collected from GCPs and reuse in furnaces.
3. Reduction in fugitive dust emission in material handling by:
a) Using completely covered transfer chutes and conveyors
b) Mist formation at ground hoppers
4. Sourcing water for granulation of slag from cooling tower blow down and treated water from effluent treat-
ment plant, resulting in conservation of water.
5. Extensive plantation of trees for maintaining effective green belt in and around the manufacturing plants.