Current Status and Prospects of Electric Furnace Scrap Steel Preheating Technology

Abstract

With the transformation of the global steel industry to green and low-carbon, scrap preheating technology has become the core research direction in the field of electric furnace short-process steelmaking as a key means to improve the utilization rate of scrap steel, reduce energy consumption and reduce pollution. This paper systematically reviews the development status of electric arc furnace scrap preheating technology at home and abroad, and focuses on the analysis of the technological process, energy efficiency advantages and limitations of three mainstream technologies: Consteel electric arc furnace, double-shell electric arc furnace and vertical electric arc furnace. The results show that Consteel EAF significantly reduces power consumption and carbon emissions through continuous feeding and reverse heat exchange of high-temperature flue gas, but there are problems such as complex equipment and high investment cost. The double-shell electric arc furnace adopts alternating smelting and waste heat circulation to achieve power consumption of 350~400 kWh/t, but it is necessary to solve the influence of dioxin control and scrap impurities. Shaft EAF is suitable for the production of high value-added steel grades due to its efficient preheating and low emissions, but it faces the challenges of raw material quality and large-scale equipment. The future development direction focuses on intelligent control, clean energy coupling and large-scale equipment, and it is necessary to combine policy support and technological innovation to break through bottlenecks such as scrap recycling system and localization of core equipment. This paper provides a theoretical reference and practical path for the optimization of electric arc furnace scrap preheating technology and the green transformation of the steel industry.