ORI MARTIN: THE NEW ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY AND ENERGY

EFFICIENT SCENARIO. OPERATIVE RESULTS OF THE NEW

CONSTEEL® EVOLUTION AND iRECOVERY® SYSTEM
Nicola Monti, Andrea Grasselli, Giuseppe Di Zanni
Tenova S.p.A.
Via Monte Rosa, 93 - 20149 Milan (Italy)

Uggero De Miranda, Natale Gaudenzi, Maurizio Zanforlin

Ori Martin S.p.A.
Via Cosimo Canovetti, 13 - 25128 Brescia (Italy)

Ori Martin has completed the revamping and modernization of the first European Consteel® and it has been
successfully commissioned in summer 2015. In addition to this, Ori Martin has also completed the installation
of a heat recovery system on the primary off-gas line exiting the Consteel®, to recover the remaining thermal
energy in the off-gas for the production of steam. The paper describes the improvements that have been
achieved with the new Consteel® system in terms of flexibility and reduced consumption as well as the
results of the new iRecovery® in delivering thermal energy to the city of Brescia district heating grid during
winter time. During summer period the steam generated will feed an ORC turbo-generator to produce electric
energy for Ori Martin’s internal use.

KEYWORDS: CONSTEEL®, EAF, IRECOVERY®, HEAT RECOVERY, WASTE HEAT BOILER, ORC,
DISTRICT HEATING

1. INTRODUCTION
Ori Martin, confident with the engineering competence of Tenova, has successfully commissioned and
started-up the revamping of the first European Consteel® with the aim of increase the flexibility and reduce
the production cost. In addition to this, Ori Martin has also decided to install a heat recovery system on the
primary off-gas line exiting the new Consteel®, to recover the remaining thermal energy in the off-gas for the
production of steam. The paper describes the results that are achieved with the new Consteel® EAF and the
new iRecovery® system that will deliver thermal energy to the city of Brescia district heating grid during
winter time and that will feed an ORC turbo-generator to produce electric energy for Ori Martin’s internal use.
The new installation lets Ori Martin to have one of the most environmentally friendly and energy efficient
steel melting plant in the World.

2. ORI MARTIN AND THE NEW CONSTEEL® PROJECT WITH iRECOVERY SYSTEM
Ori Martin group is specialized in the production of many specialty steel grades for automotive industry and
demanding mechanical applications. The constant research effort allows the group to deliver now more than
200 steel grades to satisfy the needs of the European carmakers and to sustain profitability even in the most
critical market conditions. The growth of the group throughout the years was led by both increasing the
productivity and increasing the added value by integrating downstream processes, sustained by a deeply
rooted commercial presence on the European market. The group keeps on investing in both product quality
improvement and technological modernization, keeping the brand on the forefront of the most advanced
producers. In 1998, the group became the European pioneer in Consteel® EAFs, installing a new state-of-
the art EAF fitted with the now widely spread Tenova continuous charging technology. The main goals of the
project included the optimization the energetic efficiency utilization and the improvement of the
environmental performance of the plant located near the very center of the city of Brescia, while keeping the
production focused on the special steel grades and improving the product quality. The operating results of
recent times and the numerous tests carried out jointly by the Ori Martin team, backed by Tenova
Engineering and Process departments, have highlighted the need to think about the design of a new
Consteel®, which has as its objective the reduction of consumptions and improving the operational
performances of the steel melting equipment in a scenario that requires a not common operational flexibility.
The project of the new Consteel® is based on the following fundamental concepts:
• rebalance the two main components of the melting unit (Consteel® and EAF) to achieve efficiently
and continuously the productivity goals;
• improve the thermal exchange between the EAF off-gas and the scrap in the different charging
conditions (greater exposed surface and lower height of the scrap layer);
• improve the distribution of scrap entering the liquid steel bath (larger surface area where scrap falls
in the steel bath) to speed up the melting with a lower interference with the steel bath stirring;
• keep the connecting car pan inserted inside the EAF for any furnace tilting angle, so as to have the
metallic scrap charging and the electrical power-on to the EAF electrodes starting together at the
soonest;
• reduce ambient air suction inside the Consteel® and the primary off-gas line by increasing the
efficiency of the Consteel® seals between the EAF and the connecting car hood, along the
connecting car hood and the conveyor in the preheating section and by better controlling ambient air
intake through the dynamic seal;
• maintain high temperatures of the EAF off-gas;
• reduce off-gas flow rate in the primary off-gas line and consequently reducing the electric
consumption to the fume treatment plant;
• improve the conditions of the off-gas at the inlet of the heat recovery system (iRecovery®) that will
be installed on the primary off-gas line.
The correct conduction of the process is entrusted to a system for supervision and control completely new
and innovative, able to interact consistently with management systems of the other production units. This
type of system process control belongs to the global solution iSteel®, developed by Tenova for the
continuous technological improvement of steel production cycle. The automation of the EAF with Consteel®
is complete management system and automatic control of spillage TAT® (Tenova-Auto Tapping-
Technology), useful to control the EAF slag flow through the EBT during steel tapping into the ladle and to
minimize human intervention during this operation. The design of the new Consteel® system has been
updated in order to further improve its reliability and performances, considering the integration of the
iRecovery® system. The new project was successfully started-up, right in line the contractual time schedule.

Fig. 1 – The new revamped Consteel®, connecting car side.

3. DEVELOPMENT OF THE INTEGRATED HEAT RECOVERY SYSTEM
The melting process in Ori Martin is rather atypical if compared with the other Consteel® EAFs as it employs
limited oxygen and carbon injection, this leading to a modest quantity of energy in the off-gases. The main
goal of the revamping is to maximize the recovery of the off-gas energy by improving the heat transfer to the
scrap in the heating tunnel and by optimizing the conditions of the gases at the tunnel’s exit to properly feed
the downstream recovery system. The transfer of heat to the scrap will be improved by increasing the scrap
exposed surface through the installation of the widest conveyor (2400 mm) compatible with the existing EAF
geometry. At the same time the new Consteel® drive will allow increasing the conveying speed by 2 m/min.
The changes will result in a reduction of the average scrap height from 800 mm to 500 mm that will boost the
average scrap charging temperature at the EAF.
The hoods of the heating tunnel are being completely redesigned applying the results of a CFD analysis ran
on the actual off-gases flow data. The aspect ratio of the hoods will be changed as they will become wider
and lower, while the overall section will be reduced by about 20%.

Fig. 2 – CFD analysis.

The efficiency of the energy recovery both in the Consteel® tunnel and in the downstream ECS improves
dramatically with the increase of the temperature of the gases. Consistently, the new Consteel® will
implement a completely redesigned set of seals to reduce to a minimum the admission of bleed air. The
sealing chamber at the open end of the conveyor (the Dynamic Seal) will also be reconfigured to achieve the
result: the current seal features an axial fan to reduce the pressure in the seal’s chamber and several rows of
tubular fingers suspended to the chamber’s roof on the scrap’s inlet end to reduce the fresh air flow. To
improve the dynamics of the chamber pressure control the new configuration utilizes a radial blower whose
suction is regulated by pressure probes in the seal’s chamber and in the end of the heating tunnel, while the
tubular fingers are replaced by newly designed permanent leaf-shaped fingers, built in stainless steel on the
hot side of the chamber and in polymers on the cold side. While the pressure in the current chamber is kept
slightly higher than the one in the tunnel’s end, in the new configuration the chamber will be at a slightly
lower pressure, and the outlet of the radial fan will be connected to the secondary EAF suction line.

To seal the gap between the heating tunnel and the EAF shell a new circular flange, divided in two
independent sectors, will be installed. The position of the upper flange will be continuously regulated to
adjust the quantity of post-combustion air to assure the complete combustion of CO and H2 generated into
the EAF. Both flange sections will be completely retractable to give the needed clearance for the shell
changeover between campaigns.

The improvement of the seals and the changes in the design of the Dynamic Seal will allow fumes
temperatures significantly higher than the ones observed today both inside the tunnel and at the tunnel’s
exit. To reduce the dust load in the fumes sent to the waste heat boiler and improve the deposition of the
metallic dust particles on the scrap layer the offtake hood has also been redesigned, increasing both the
horizontal section and the height to reduce the vertical speed of the fumes and increase the residence time
of the fumes.
 Fig. 3 – The new revamped Consteel®, EAF section view.

The EAF platform cradles will be replaced to match the EAF tilting axis and the flange axis, and the
Connecting Car will also be improved to allow leaving the connecting car inserted throughout the whole
process, eliminating process delay. The design of the new Consteel® will utilize the existing original
foundations reducing the shot down time required for the installation of the new equipment.

4. THE iRECOVERY® SYSTEM AT ORI MARTIN

The ECS (Evaporative Cooling System) heat recovery system, iRecovery®, was successfully started-up in
the early 2016. This system, installed downstream of the new EAF Consteel® furnace, have the task to
recover part of the energy contained in the fumes generated during the scrap melting and superheating
process in the electrical furnace. The energy extracted from the fumes converts the recirculation water of the
cooling circuit into steam. This phenomenon is made possible thanks to the use of cooling water at boiling
conditions that, circulating and absorbing energy, will be subject to partial phase change generating steam.
During winter time the steam produced will be sent to a heat exchange unit dedicated to district heating for
the town of Brescia managed by A2A Company. During summer time the steam produced will be used to
feed an ORC (Organic Rankine Cycle) turbo-generator supplied by Turboden for the production of electricity
for internal use. This unit is also used to exploit any excess thermal power remaining after the absorption of
heat for district heating. The heat exchanger, generally called waste heat boiler, consists of a single
convective exchange unit, operating between fumes temperatures of approx. 500-550 °C down to a
temperature of approx. 200 °C. However, since the EAF process generates heat loads which are not
constant over time (scrap melting, liquid steel refining and superheating, tapping, EAF preparation), the
fumes temperature has a significant variability over time. In any case, the system is designed to operate
within a wide range of temperatures and flow rates. It is essential to consider that the new heat recovery
system is fully integrated with the meltshop unit and has no influence on the steel production process of Ori
Martin. It is installed in parallel to the existing primary off-gas cooling system with water cooled ducts and
quenching tower and the commissioning of the plant was done without production stoppages of the process.
It must be considered that the Ori Martin steel mill in Brescia can operate continuously. The steam generated
by the recovery system will be available during this period of production, therefore excluding furnace stops
and the periods in which stops are planned for ordinary and extraordinary maintenance. Since the recovered
energy will be used by the district heating network of A2A (the electric power and gas distribution company
serving the district) and the ORC module, it is assumed that this energy will be fully utilized for such
applications. The installation of an additional heat exchange unit with the purpose of dissipates the surplus of
energy recovered by the heat recovery system compared to the energy absorbed by the two users is
considered.
 Fig. 4 – The new iRecovery system.

5. iRECOVERY SYSTEM DESCRIPTION

The system essentially subtracts the residual thermal energy of off-gas coming out from the new EAF
Consteel® and produces saturated steam which will act as fluid media to transfer the energy recovered to
the two main users: the first is the district heating network of A2A, the second is an ORC turbo-generator for
the conversion of thermal energy into electrical energy. The recovery of heat and its transfer to the users is
carried out according to a continuous cycle where water, coming from the degasser, evaporates into the
Waste Heat Boiler, cools down in the heat exchangers of the users and then is sent back in the form of
condensate to the degasser, thus closing the thermal cycle. With the aim to optimize the energy recovery
process, the system has been designed also considering the possible contribution of energy from the billets
preheating furnace.

The system is basically divided into five sections:

• Heat recovery section, starting from the new off-gas duct, in parallel to the existing off-gas duct to
the Quenching Tower, which branching from the refractory lined underground tunnel (upstream of
the Quenching Tower), conveys the hot fumes in the heat recuperator, Waste Heat Boiler, and then
conveys them to the primary existing off-gas line downstream of the Quenching Tower.
On this duct, the following equipment is foreseen:
• a Venturi meter for measuring the off-gas flow rate;
• two dampers, one cut-off damper installed upstream of the recuperator and the other for flow
rate control installed downstream;
• a cut-off damper downstream of the quenching tower in addition to the existing flow rate
control one.
In case of recovery system blockage or in case of excess of energy recovered, the damper
downstream of the recuperator is closed while the damper downstream of the quenching tower is
opened so as to completely stop the flow of the off-gas through the recuperator and divert them to
 the quenching tower. The Waste Heat Boiler consists mainly of a steam generator with natural
circulation water tube bundles fitted with:
• casing, namely the fumes flow chamber that contains the convective heat exchange units; it
develops horizontally in the fumes flow direction;
• evaporators consisting of bundles of vertical tubes crossed by the off-gas inside which the
water (liquid phase) coming from the steam drum undergoes a partial evaporation;
• steam drum which consists of a cylindrical pressure vessel installed above the recuperator in
which the liquid water is in balance with the steam. From the bottom of the steam drum
come out both down take pipes that go to the evaporators and the upwards pipes coming
from the same evaporators;
• economizers consisting of bundles of vertical tubes crossed by the off-gas inside which
water is coming from the degasser. In the economizers, water changes from the temperature
of about 105°C, to a temperature close to the boiling point, at a defined pressure, in the
steam drum; thanks to the economizers the temperature of the off-gas coming out from the
evaporators can be further reduced;
• automatic cleaning system of the recuperator that allows the cyclical separation of dust
deposited on the surfaces of the exchange units inside the heat machine;
• dust extraction system to collect and convey the dust separated in the recuperator up to a
storage bin.

Fig. 5 – The new iRecovery system, heat recovery section.

• Heat exchange section with A2A district heating system, where the steam coming from the
steam accumulation section is transferring, by condensing, its energy to the water of the district
heating grid of A2A thanks to a heat exchange unit consisting of two condensing heat exchangers
operating in parallel, a flash tank inside of which all the condensate is conveyed, and an additional
condenser which condenses back the flash steam bringing it in exchange with the same district
heating water. This system not only recovers the re-evaporation heat of condensate that would
otherwise be lost into the atmosphere, but it also provides a pre-heating of the district heating water
before being sent to the two heat exchangers. All the condensate in the tank is then subsequently
sent to the degasser through a booster pump group.
 Fig. 6 – The new iRecovery system, A2A exchange section.

• ORC section for converting the recovered thermal energy into electrical energy. Consists essentially
in a turbo-generator with Organic Rankine Cycle that using the steam from the recovery section
converts the recovered heat energy into electrical energy.

• Water supply section, composed of a thermo-physical degasser with turret which carries out a dual
role: the first is to ensure continuity of supply to the recuperator in case of non-supply of make-up
water; the second is to degas the make-up water, i.e. to allow the elimination of gases dissolved in it.
The degasser is composed of two elements:
• a feed water tank consisting of a horizontal cylindrical tank in which water is stored, this,
thanks to the direct injection of steam, is kept at a constant temperature of 105 °C. At the
same time the tank collects the condensate from the drainage line and the condensate
coming from the users;
• a deaerator that heats the make-up water which is entering in the system at a temperature
such as to allow the separation and elimination of the gases present, and in particular
carbon dioxide and oxygen that are the most determining agents for the metallic corrosion
phenomenon.
The water in the degasser is drawn from a group of feed pumps and transferred to the steam drum of
the recuperator; the pump group is provided with a level control valve that has the task to regulate
the flow of water depending on the level of water in the steam drum.

• Steam pressure accumulation and reduction section. The steam produced by the recuperator is
conveyed to a steam accumulator whose function is to accumulate the thermal energy. In its outlet,
on the delivery lines to the users there are some thermal expansion valves whose purpose is to
reduce and to ensure the steam pressure at a value below the pre-set value. Furthermore, between
the steam drum and the accumulator there is a valve that prevents that the pressure in the steam
drum falls below a predetermined value.
The system allows meeting three basic requirements:
1. accumulate the recovered thermal energy and release it to the users in the opposite case of
no or insufficient energy from the recovery. In this way it is possible to keep the energy
transferred to the users at a value roughly constant at around the average value of a
complete casting cycle;
2. ensure a reduction of the heat load transferred to the users in a smooth manner in
accordance with a predetermined ramp in the event of a sudden stop or failure of the
recovery system or of the electric furnace that would tend to reduce and stop in a very quick
way the heat delivery to the users.
 3. make as much stable as possible the steam pressure in the steam drum when the thermal
load of the fumes varies, which on the contrary is variable and fluctuating in time.
The accumulation of steam exploits the well-known “flash steam” phenomenon: the lowering of the
pressure on a liquid mass at the saturation temperature causes boiling and a rapid steam generation
to the detriment of its internal energy.
The capacity of the tank to accumulate steam and therefore to store the thermal energy thus
depends on the quantity of the liquid contained in it and on the pressure difference that is established
between the interior of the tank and the downstream user. It is possible to define two work phases for
the steam accumulator:
Accumulator charging phase
Until the steam demand is less than the generated steam, the pressure inside the accumulator
increases and consequently also the temperature. The tank is loaded until the entire system does
not reach the maximum pressure and temperature design values.
Accumulator discharging phase
If the removal of the steam is greater than that generated, the internal pressure of the accumulator
drops. This results in a flash evaporation of the liquid which results in steam available for the users.

6. PERFORMANCE AND RESULTS

Considering the first period of operation from the start-up of the new Consteel® EAF, followed by the
commissioning and start-up of the iRecovery® system, the analysis of the operative data shows the good
performances already reached by those two integrated systems.

Fig. 7 – The new revamped Consteel® in operation, tapping phase.

The performances of the new Consteel® EAF are measured calculating a cost index that considers energy
and media consumptions: the expected reduction of more than 8% of this cost index compared with the
previous average values is confirmed. As additional performance figure, the productivity of the furnace is
increased by more than 13%, exceeding all the expectations and reaching outstanding reference value in the
production of steel via electric arc furnace.
The performance figures mentioned above are the average of a long production period starting from the
start-up of the furnace: further developments and continuous improvement are still on-going to exploit the
high potential demonstrated by the system to exceed the expected values. This kind of approach of
considering the performance management in the long period proves the commitment of Tenova in this
innovative project and the intention to give performance figures consistent with the real operating conditions
of the plant and not relative to a short sequence of heats.

The operation achieved with the new Consteel® is the base to arrive at the expected performance of the
iRecovery system to recover thermal energy from the primary off-gas in the order of 90 kWh/tgb and more
that will be available for the district heating and, during summertime, for the ORC turbo-generator.

Fig. 8 – The new iRecovery® system in operation, HMI interface.

The thermal power exchanged with the district heating is flexible according to the thermal load generated by
the off-gas exiting the Consteel® EAF. With an important and continuous commitment to reach the plant
tuning during commissioning period, the steam flow rate can be controlled based on the average thermal
load of the fumes and can be kept uniform over time due to the thermal buffer of the steam accumulator.

Fig. 9 – The new iRecovery system in operation, off-gas temperature cycle in a sequence of representative heats.

After the first period of operation, the average results of the iRecovery® system during several consecutive
and representative sequence of heats show that the amount of energy recovered from the off-gas and
transformed in thermal energy ready to be used is in line with the expected results. Considering the overall
integrated system of Consteel® EAF and iRecovery®, comes out the outstanding performance in the steel
production scenario.

The new Consteel® EAF and the new iRecovery® results now fully integrated and the operation of the whole
system is steady and consistent and gives to ORI Martin the opportunity to exploit a new additional lever for
a more flexible and efficient operation of the plant. The excellent potential demonstrated by the system
drives for further development for the optimization of the performance and costs in any different scenarios.

In conclusion, the revamping and optimization lead Ori Martin to be one of the most flexible, efficient and
environmentally friendly steel meltshop in the World.

REFERENCES
[1] N.Monti, C.Giavani, “A new Consteel® with iRecovery®: better performances in steel production
with heat recovery for district heating and ORC turbine power generation” AISTech 2015 Conference
[2] F.Memoli, C.Giavani, E.Malfa, N.Rondini “Consteel® evolution, the second generation of Consteel®
technology” ABM 2013 Conference, Araxa, May 2013
[3] F.Memoli, C.Giavani, M.Guzzon, "The evolution of preheating and the importance of hot heel in
supersized Consteel® system", AISTech 2011 Conference, Indianapolis, May 2011.
[4] F.Memoli, "How changes in scrap mix affect the operation of Consteel® EAF", AISTech 2013
Conference, Pittsburgh, May 2013
[5] R.Granderath, “EAF Heat Recovery down to 200°C – A new Benchmark”, AISTech 2013
Conference, Pittsburgh, May 2013