EP1790738B1 - Kontrolle eines Schmelzprozesses - Google Patents

Kontrolle eines Schmelzprozesses Download PDF

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Publication number
EP1790738B1
EP1790738B1 EP05026027A EP05026027A EP1790738B1 EP 1790738 B1 EP1790738 B1 EP 1790738B1 EP 05026027 A EP05026027 A EP 05026027A EP 05026027 A EP05026027 A EP 05026027A EP 1790738 B1 EP1790738 B1 EP 1790738B1
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
oxygen
concentration
furnace
measured
metal
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Not-in-force
Application number
EP05026027A
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English (en)
French (fr)
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EP1790738A1 (de
Inventor
Lodin Johannes
Gripenberg Henrik
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Linde GmbH
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Linde GmbH
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Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Linde GmbH filed Critical Linde GmbH
Priority to DE602005008994T priority Critical patent/DE602005008994D1/de
Priority to EP05026027A priority patent/EP1790738B1/de
Priority to AT05026027T priority patent/ATE404703T1/de
Priority to PCT/EP2006/011062 priority patent/WO2007062753A1/en
Priority to US12/095,018 priority patent/US20090218736A1/en
Priority to BRPI0619375-7A priority patent/BRPI0619375A2/pt
Publication of EP1790738A1 publication Critical patent/EP1790738A1/de
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of EP1790738B1 publication Critical patent/EP1790738B1/de
Not-in-force legal-status Critical Current
Anticipated expiration legal-status Critical

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    • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
    • C22—METALLURGY; FERROUS OR NON-FERROUS ALLOYS; TREATMENT OF ALLOYS OR NON-FERROUS METALS
    • C22B—PRODUCTION AND REFINING OF METALS; PRETREATMENT OF RAW MATERIALS
    • C22B21/00—Obtaining aluminium
    • C22B21/0084—Obtaining aluminium melting and handling molten aluminium

Definitions

  • the invention relates to a method to control a process for heating or melting a metal, in particular aluminium, comprising heating said metal in a fuel-fired furnace wherein a fuel is combusted with an oxygen containing gas, and measuring the concentrations of carbon dioxide and oxygen in the furnace atmosphere.
  • the invention relates to the field of heating or melting of metals in fuel-fired furnaces.
  • Liquid or gaseous hydrocarbon containing fuels may be used.
  • the heating or melting process is carried out in rotary or reverberatory furnaces.
  • the process may be continuous or a batch process.
  • the material to be melted for example scrap or ingots, is charged through large doors into the furnace. Typically a furnace is charged two or more times during a process cycle.
  • metal losses occur essentially due to the following phenomena: A part of the losses originates from direct oxidation of the metal with the furnace atmosphere. A second part of the metal losses comes from metal that is entrapped between the metal oxides formed through direct oxidation.
  • the oxidation of aluminium is temperature dependent.
  • the rate of oxidation increases with increasing temperature, especially at temperatures above 780 °C the oxidation increases rapidly.
  • the dross layer comprises aluminium oxide which has a high melting point.
  • the dross layer will not melt further, but functions as a heat insulator. If it is allowed to grow too much, it will insulate the metal melt from the burner flame. The dross will be more heated and more metal will be oxidized.
  • thermocouple An alternative is to submerge a thermocouple into the melted metal. However, this is only a local indication and it does not give any information as to hot spots on other locations. Monitoring of the temperature is thus not a sufficient means to monitor how the metal oxidation proceeds.
  • FR 2824130 A1 discloses a method for controlling the quality of a product treated at a temperature and under an atmosphere generated by burners arranged at certain locations of the furnace.
  • a laser beam passes through the atmosphere of the furnace and the optical characteristics of the beam being modified after passing through the furnace.
  • the analysis of the modifications of the beam enables to act immediately on the fluid (oxidant/fuel) injections in the burners to modify said atmosphere and thereby control the quality of the products.
  • an industrial furnace can never be perfectly sealed.
  • a significant amount of air is always leaking into a furnace causing an excess of oxygen which may oxidize any carbon monoxide or hydrogen formed in the furnace.
  • the oxygen from the leak air may also oxidize metal. This makes the use of the carbon monoxide concentration even more uncertain.
  • This object is achieved by a method to control a process for heating or melting a metal, in particular aluminium, comprising:
  • the CO 2 concentration in the furnace atmosphere is measured. Then equation (1) allows to calculate the theoretical O 2 concentration in the furnace atmosphere.
  • a reducing substance such as a metal or an organic material
  • some oxygen will be consumed and the oxygen content in the furnace will be reduced.
  • the O 2 concentration in the furnace atmosphere is measured and compared to the theoretical O 2 concentration. The difference between both values is an indicator for the amount of metal or material that has been oxidized.
  • the O 2 concentration and the CO 2 concentration can be determined by direct measurement or detection of the respective concentrations within the furnace or, according to a preferred embodiment, the O 2 concentration and the CO 2 concentration are measured in the flue gas stream. More preferred a sample is taken from the flue gas stream and then analyzed in order to determine the O 2 concentration and the CO 2 concentration.
  • Carbon dioxide will also react with aluminium according to (3) 3 CO 2 + 2 Al ⁇ Al 2 O 3 + 3 CO and the reaction (4) 3 H 2 O + 2 Al ⁇ 2 Al 2 O 3 + 3 H 2 will also occur.
  • reaction (3) By simultaneous analysis of the concentrations of carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and hydrogen the inventors could show that reactions (3) and (4) can be neglected compared to reaction (2). It can be concluded that in case aluminium is charged into the furnace the amount of oxygen deviating from the oxygen concentration calculated from equation (1) is mainly consumed by reaction (2). Thus, the amount of aluminium oxidized is proportional to the deviation of the measured oxygen content from the oxygen content given by equation (1).
  • the invention utilizes this insight to control an aluminium melting process.
  • the content of oxygen in the furnace atmosphere is detected several times and the relative amount of aluminium oxide is determined from the difference between the detected oxygen concentration and the theoretical oxygen concentration. This information is used to regulate and / or control the melting process, for example by changing the burner power.
  • Reaction (5) would be dominating as long as free O 2 is present in the furnace atmosphere.
  • the invention could be applicable for the heating of steel or steel alloys..
  • the heating or melting process is controlled without using the temperature of the flue gases or the temperature in the furnace. It is further preferred that the control of the melting process is not based on carbon monoxide measurements or on measurements of the hydrogen content in the furnace atmosphere or in the flue gases. It is especially advantageous to base the control of the heating or melting process on the difference between the theoretical O 2 concentration and the measured O 2 concentration, only.
  • the oxygen concentration and the carbon dioxide concentration are continuously detected.
  • the measured oxygen concentration will be essentially equal to the theoretical oxygen concentration calculated from the measured CO 2 concentration. With increasing temperature, at least at some local spots metal will be oxidized.
  • said furnace is heated by one or more burners. Further it is preferred to measure the amount of fuel supplied to the burner(s). If the fuel flow is measured the absolute amount of CO 2 , for example the mass of CO 2 in kg, can be calculated from the chemical reaction equation. Further, that information allows to calculate the absolute amount of O 2 which has been consumed by oxidation of the metal in the furnace. That is, the absolute difference, for example in kg, between the theoretical oxygen content and the measured oxygen content can be given.
  • the amount of oxidized metal is calculated using the absolute amount of oxygen consumed in that oxidation reaction and the formula weight of the metal oxide, for example the formula weight of aluminium oxide Al 2 O 3 .
  • the metal may also be oxidized by H 2 O and CO 2 but the inventors could show that the oxidation with oxygen is dominating in an industrial furnace.
  • the oxygen and the carbon dioxide concentration are detected in the flue gases.
  • a flue gas analysis provides a direct information on the composition of the atmosphere within the furnace. For practical reasons it is preferred to determine the oxygen and the carbon dioxide content in the furnace atmosphere from a measurement in the flue gas duct.
  • the measurement of the oxygen concentration can be carried out by any equipment for analyzing oxygen.
  • a laser especially a diode-laser, is used to analyze the oxygen concentration.
  • the so determined metal oxidation rate is used to control the heating or melting process.
  • the heating or melting process is controlled by changing the power of the burner or of the burners which are used to heat the furnace and its charge.
  • the amount of oxygen supplied to the burner is changed in order to influence the heating or melting process.
  • it may be switched from oxygen burners to air burners or vice versa.
  • the invention is used to monitor the combustion of organic contaminants on the metal charge. For example, if the metal charged into the furnace is contaminated by organic matter, such as oil, lacquer, or plastics, these materials are evaporated and combusted and oxidized inside the furnace. This oxidation will also create a difference between the calculated and the measured oxygen in the flue gas or in the furnace atmosphere. The oxidation of the organic matter can then be studied in the same way as the oxidation of the metal. When oxidation of organic matter is detected, it can be controlled by adding excess oxygen to the furnace.
  • organic matter such as oil, lacquer, or plastics
  • the evaporation of organic matter dominates at the beginning of the process at temperatures below 500 °C, especially between 400 and 500°C.
  • the oxidation of the metal dominates later in the process when the metal is at higher temperatures, especially above the melting point of the metal.
  • the oxidation increases at temperatures above the melting point at 660 °C and it may increase rapidly at temperatures above about 780 °C.
  • the oxidation starts to be significant above 900 °C.
  • the invention shows either oxidation of organic matter or oxidation of metal, but not the two at the same time.
  • the process it is of interest to study oxidation of organic matter and at what part of the process it is of interest to study oxidation of the metal.
  • the invention has several advantages compared to the state of the art technology.
  • the inventive method provides a signal showing the oxidation rate of a metal, in particular of aluminium, that is independent from the amount of leak air entering the furnace.
  • the inventive method is more reliable than methods based on flue gas temperature measurements or based on carbon monoxide measurements.
  • the invention provides a method which is very appropriate for industrial furnaces, in particular for rotary furnaces and reverberatory furnaces used for heating or melting of metals.
  • the user of the invention will be able to have a better process control and hence will be able to decrease the aluminium losses and to get a higher metal yield.
  • the inventive method is easy to implement.
  • the invention is in particular useful to control a process for melting aluminium.
  • Figure 1 shows an aluminium melting furnace 1 of the rotary type.
  • the aluminium melting furnace 1 has been charged with aluminium scrap 2.
  • Melting furnace 1 is heated with an oxy-fuel burner 3 which can be supplied with fuel, oxygen and / or air.
  • the amount of fuel, oxygen and air provided to burner 3 is regulated by flow control valves 4 and can be measured by flow measurement means 5.
  • Burner 3 generates a burner flame 6 which heats the aluminium charge 2.
  • the flue gases 7 which are produced during the heating and melting of charge 2 leave the furnace 1 through a flue gas duct 8.
  • Flue gas duct 8 is provided with an oxygen analyzer 9 and a carbon dioxide analyzer 10.
  • Oxygen analyzer 9 and CO 2 analyzer 10 provide signals 11, 12 which are proportional to the concentration of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the flue gases 7. These signals are sent as input to a process computer 13.
  • computer 13 From the flow measurement means 5 process computer 13 further receives input signals 14, 15, 16 proportional to the measured flow of fuel, oxygen and air, respectively. Any of the data 11, 12, 14, 15, 16 can be shown on a computer monitor 17. Computer monitor 17 is also used to visualize the analysis of the data 11, 12, 14, 15, 16.
  • Process computer 17 calculates from the data 11, 12, 14, 15, 16 a signal 18 which is used to control the melting process by varying the flow of fuel, oxygen, and / or air supplied to burner 3. These calculations are made on-line and can be shown on computer monitor 17 in a real time graph.
  • CO 2 analyzer 10 continuously measures the CO 2 concentration in the flue gas stream 7. The measured values are sent to process computer 13 and are recorded. For example, every minute one measured value is recorded. By using equation (1) process computer 13 calculates the theoretical oxygen concentration for every measured CO 2 value. Thus, for every minute a measured CO 2 concentration and the corresponding theoretical O 2 concentration is recorded.
  • Oxygen analyzer 9 continuously measures the O 2 concentration in the flue gases. The measured values are also stored every minute in the process computer 13.
  • the measured oxygen value and the theoretical oxygen value should be equal.
  • the furnace 1 contains aluminium and when this aluminium starts to oxidize, the oxidation of aluminium will consume some of the oxygen in the furnace atmosphere.
  • the measured oxygen concentration will then be lower than the theoretical oxygen concentration.
  • the difference between both values is an indication of aluminium oxidation. This difference is also calculated and stored in process computer 13.
  • Figure 2 shows a typical graph recorded by process computer 13. At 14:50 a rapid increase in aluminium oxidation is detected and this information is used to control the melting process by changing the burner power.
  • the inventive method is independent of leak air into the furnace, since the influence of leak air variations is compensated by repeating the calculation according to equation (1) for every measurement - in the example above, every minute. Of course the data can be calculated more or less frequent than every minute.

Claims (11)

  1. Verfahren zur Kontrolle eines Prozesses zum Erhitzen oder Schmelzen eines Metalls (2), insbesondere Aluminium, wobei das Verfahren Folgendes umfasst:
    - Erhitzen des Metalls (2) in einem brennstoffbefeuerten Ofen (1), in dem ein Brennstoff mit einem sauerstoffhaltigen Gas verbrannt wird,
    - Messen (9, 10) der Konzentrationen von Kohlendioxid und Sauerstoff in der Ofenatmosphäre,
    dadurch gekennzeichnet, dass
    - die theoretische Konzentration von Sauerstoff (%O2) in der Ofenatmosphäre nach folgender Gleichung berechnet wird:

            %O2 = k · %CO2 + m

    wobei %CO2 die gemessene Kohlendioxidkonzentration im Ofen, k eine Konstante, abhängig von der Zusammensetzung des Brennstoffs und vom CO2-Gehalt in der Ofenatmosphäre ohne jegliche Falschluft, und m der Sauerstoffgehalt der Falschluft ist,
    - die Differenz zwischen der theoretischen Konzentration von Sauerstoff und der ermittelten Konzentration von Sauerstoff bestimmt wird und
    - der Prozess in Abhängigkeit von der Differenz kontrolliert wird.
  2. Verfahren nach Anspruch 1, dadurch gekennzeichnet, dass die Sauerstoff- und die Kohlendioxidkonzentrationen kontinuierlich gemessen werden.
  3. Verfahren nach Anspruch 1 oder Anspruch 2, dadurch gekennzeichnet, dass der Ofen (1) durch einen oder mehrere Brenner (3) beheizt und die Menge des den Brennern (3) zugeführten Brennstoffs gemessen wird.
  4. Verfahren nach Anspruch 3, dadurch gekennzeichnet, dass der absolute Wert der Differenz zwischen der theoretischen Konzentration von Sauerstoff und der gemessenen Konzentration von Sauerstoff auf der Basis der gemessenen Konzentrationen von Sauerstoff und Kohlendioxid und der gemessenen Brennstoffmenge berechnet wird.
  5. Verfahren nach Anspruch 4, dadurch gekennzeichnet, dass die Menge oxidierten Metalls berechnet wird.
  6. Verfahren nach einem der Ansprüche 1 bis 5, dadurch gekennzeichnet, dass die gemessene Sauerstoffkonzentration und/oder die gemessene Kohlendioxidkonzentration mittels eines Lasers ermittelt werden.
  7. Verfahren nach einem der Ansprüche 1 bis 6, dadurch gekennzeichnet, dass der Brennstoff mit einem Gas verbrannt wird, das mehr als 21% Sauerstoff, vorzugsweise mehr als 50% Sauerstoff, vorzugsweise mehr als 90% Sauerstoff enthält.
  8. Verfahren nach einem der Ansprüche 1 bis 7, dadurch gekennzeichnet, dass der Prozess durch Ändern der Leistung des Brenners/der Brenner (3) kontrolliert wird.
  9. Verfahren nach einem der Ansprüche 1 bis 8, dadurch gekennzeichnet, dass mehrere Chargen von Metall (2) im Ofen (1) geschmolzen werden und dass für jede Charge die Differenz zwischen der theoretischen Konzentration von Sauerstoff und der gemessenen Konzentration von Sauerstoff bestimmt wird.
  10. Verfahren nach Anspruch 9, dadurch gekennzeichnet, dass für mindestens zwei verschiedene Chargen die jeweiligen Differenzen zwischen der theoretischen Konzentration von Sauerstoff und der gemessenen Konzentration von Sauerstoff verglichen werden.
  11. Verfahren nach einem der Ansprüche 1 bis 10, dadurch gekennzeichnet, dass das Metall mit organischen Substanzen verunreinigt ist, dass die organischen Substanzen mindestens teilweise mit dem Sauerstoff oxidiert sind und dass die Menge oxidierter Substanzen überwacht wird.
EP05026027A 2005-11-29 2005-11-29 Kontrolle eines Schmelzprozesses Not-in-force EP1790738B1 (de)

Priority Applications (6)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
DE602005008994T DE602005008994D1 (de) 2005-11-29 2005-11-29 Kontrolle eines Schmelzprozesses
EP05026027A EP1790738B1 (de) 2005-11-29 2005-11-29 Kontrolle eines Schmelzprozesses
AT05026027T ATE404703T1 (de) 2005-11-29 2005-11-29 Kontrolle eines schmelzprozesses
PCT/EP2006/011062 WO2007062753A1 (en) 2005-11-29 2006-11-17 Control of a melting process
US12/095,018 US20090218736A1 (en) 2005-11-29 2006-11-17 Control of a melting process
BRPI0619375-7A BRPI0619375A2 (pt) 2005-11-29 2006-11-17 controle de um processo de fundição

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
EP05026027A EP1790738B1 (de) 2005-11-29 2005-11-29 Kontrolle eines Schmelzprozesses

Publications (2)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP1790738A1 EP1790738A1 (de) 2007-05-30
EP1790738B1 true EP1790738B1 (de) 2008-08-13

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ID=35509287

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP05026027A Not-in-force EP1790738B1 (de) 2005-11-29 2005-11-29 Kontrolle eines Schmelzprozesses

Country Status (6)

Country Link
US (1) US20090218736A1 (de)
EP (1) EP1790738B1 (de)
AT (1) ATE404703T1 (de)
BR (1) BRPI0619375A2 (de)
DE (1) DE602005008994D1 (de)
WO (1) WO2007062753A1 (de)

Families Citing this family (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
GB2477753B (en) * 2010-02-11 2012-04-18 Rifat Al Chalabi Metal recovery process
US10991087B2 (en) 2017-01-16 2021-04-27 Praxair Technology, Inc. Flame image analysis for furnace combustion control
US11441206B2 (en) 2018-05-25 2022-09-13 Air Products And Chemicals, Inc. System and method of operating a batch melting furnace

Family Cites Families (14)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4531973A (en) * 1980-04-08 1985-07-30 Nixon Ivor G Metallurgical processes
FR2688581B1 (fr) * 1992-03-16 1997-05-30 Unimetall Sa Procede et dispositif de regulation du debit d'air de combustion d'un dispositif de captage des fumees d'un reacteur metallurgique, dispositif de captage et reacteur metallurgique correspondants.
US5563903A (en) * 1995-06-13 1996-10-08 Praxair Technology, Inc. Aluminum melting with reduced dross formation
US6612154B1 (en) * 1998-12-22 2003-09-02 Furnace Control Corp. Systems and methods for monitoring or controlling the ratio of hydrogen to water vapor in metal heat treating atmospheres
EP2264435A3 (de) * 2000-06-26 2011-12-07 Murray Thomson Methode für ein verbessertes Regelungsverfahren in Verbrennungsanwendungen
AT409269B (de) * 2000-09-08 2002-07-25 Heribert Dipl Ing Dr Summer Verfahren zum salzlosen und oxidationsfreien umschmelzen von aluminium
DE10114179A1 (de) * 2001-03-23 2002-09-26 Linde Ag Vorrichtung zum Einschmelzen von Aluminiumschrott
FR2824130B1 (fr) * 2001-04-26 2003-12-12 Air Liquide Procede de controle d'un produit traite dans un four et four ainsi equipe de moyens de contole
US6436337B1 (en) * 2001-04-27 2002-08-20 Jupiter Oxygen Corporation Oxy-fuel combustion system and uses therefor
FR2832732B1 (fr) * 2001-11-29 2004-02-13 Air Liquide Utilisation de l'analyse des fumees dans les fours d'aluminium
US6859766B2 (en) * 2002-02-11 2005-02-22 American Air Liquide, Inc. Indirect gas species monitoring using tunable diode lasers
FR2854408B1 (fr) * 2003-04-30 2006-05-26 Air Liquide Procede de traitement d'aluminium dans un four
DE10325557A1 (de) * 2003-06-05 2004-12-23 Linde Ag Verfahren zur Verringerung von Schadstoffen in den Abgasen eines Schmelzofens
FR2866656B1 (fr) * 2004-02-25 2006-05-26 Air Liquide Procede de traitement d'aluminium dans un four rotatif ou reverbere

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
BRPI0619375A2 (pt) 2011-09-27
EP1790738A1 (de) 2007-05-30
DE602005008994D1 (de) 2008-09-25
ATE404703T1 (de) 2008-08-15
WO2007062753A1 (en) 2007-06-07
US20090218736A1 (en) 2009-09-03

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