The Viability of Oxygen Gasblowing as a Foaming Slagsuppression System for Slopping Prevention in BOF-Processes

Abstract: Slopping in BOS-processes poses many problems, most significantly to work environmentand process effectiveness. Due to the current weaknesses in slopping prediction systems afoaming slag suppression system with immediate effect is needed to prevent slopping.This project aims primarily to be a proof of concept for pressurized oxygen gas blowing as amean of foam steady-state height suppression to prevent slopping and secondarily toappreciate the viability of this concept economically.Five nozzles were designed and used to blow pressurized air onto foam made of silicon oil, atdifferent air flows. It was then determined which nozzle was the most effective by comparingheight difference with airflow. The airflow was compared to a life scale scenario to determinethe real flow rate which was used to determine economic viability.Results show that a nozzle with a circular small hole is the most effective nozzle requiring20 [ln min-1] to reduce the foam height by 69.6%. The real flow to achieve this would be0.605 [m3 s-1], however due to the cold models limitations this is not the true value. Theslopping suppression technique shows promise as a concept both economically andpractically.