Abstract

This paper presents the optimisation on the design of the lining of an electric arc furnace that produces refined ferromanganese by applying the nodal wear model. This model is a new tool that systematises the wear/corrosion analysis applied to industrial furnaces linking the basic theoretical knowledge of the physical chemistry of wear/corrosion phenomena and the industrial conditions. The use of this tool to optimise the process helped increase the number of tappings between furnace bottom rebuilds from 19 in 1999 to 1200 in 2005 and the productivity to increase from 1.2 to 2.7 ton h-1. © 2009 Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining.