Published online by Cambridge University Press: 27 April 2006
Standard EAF operate with a large amount or air ingress (on theorder of 30 000 Nm3 for 150 t of steel). This air is at ambient temperaturethus, the nitrogen content and the non-reactive oxygen areonly heated through the furnace and exit with the fumes at high temperature(1000°C). This brings about significant thermal losses.Reference and airtight trials were carried out with the 6-t EAF ofArcelor Research for assessing the gains related to airtight furnaceoperation.