A method for preheating metal pellets before charging into a melting furnace, wherein the pellets are transported by a conveyor belt to a chute and discharged from the chute into the melting furnace, the method including heating the pellets by direct flame impingement from two or more banks of burners, wherein the two or more banks of burners comprise an upstream bank of burners and a downstream bank of burners; and controlling the upstream bank of burners to operate oxygen-rich so as to create an oxidizing zone and the downstream bank of burners to operate fuel-rich so as to create a reducing zone.

A production apparatus and method for electric arc furnace steelmaking with a fully continuous ultra-short process are provided. A continuous adding, melting, smelting and continuous casting of a metal material are integrated, and a metallurgy process is completed in a flowing of a molten steel, to realize a continuous production of ingot blanks. The production apparatus includes four operation sites of an electric arc furnace for melting and primary refining, a sealed tapping chute for molten steel flowing, a refinement storage bed for molten-steel desulfurization and alloying and a conticaster for continuous casting A material flow, an energy flow and a time stream in the four operation sites are in a dynamic equilibrium. The production apparatus and method realize a molten-steel casting is started within 120 minutes after the metal material is started to be continuously added, and an uninterrupted continuous production is maintained for above 80 hours.

Methods and systems for determining a feed rate (unit mass/unit time) of metallic scrap material in real time being charged to an electric arc furnace (EAF) is provided, in which the methods and systems determine the speed of the metallic scrap material in real time and the volume of the metallic scrap material in real time. The methods and systems also classify the metallic scrap material via a machine learning model based on digital images of the metallic scrap material and assign a density to the metallic scrap material. The feed rate is determined based on the speed and volume of the metallic scrap material and the assigned density.

Methods and systems for determining a respective mass associated with respective portions of the respective layers of metallic scrap material deposited into a charging-bucket associated with a batchwise-charged electric arc furnace (EAF) are provided, in which the methods and systems determine the respective masses associated with the respective portions of the respective layers of metallic scrap material based on (a) the respective volume of the respective portions of the respective layers of metallic scrap material and (b) the respective assigned densities assigned by a machine learning classification model based on digital images of the respective portions of the respective layers of metallic scrap material.

An electric power apparatus for an electric arc furnace comprises at least one electrode and is connectable to a power network to supply to the electrode the electric energy to generate an electric arc to melt a metal mass. The apparatus comprises an electric regulation unit interposed and connected to the power network and to the electrode and configured to regulate at least one electric quantity for powering the electrode. The apparatus comprises at least one detection device to detect the electric quantity, interposed between the electrode and the electric regulation unit, a positioning device to move the at least one electrode nearer to/away from the metal mass to be melted and a control and command unit.

An electrolytic smelting system includes: an electrolytic smelting furnace including a furnace body to which a molten ore is introduced, a cathode substrate which is installed on a bottom portion in the furnace body, and an anode substrate which is positioned above the cathode substrate in the furnace body; an inert gas circulation unit including a circulation line to recover an inert gas supplied into the electrolytic smelting furnace together with oxygen and supply the inert gas to the molten ore; and an oxygen-removing unit which is installed in the circulation line and which removes oxygen from the circulation line.

Provided is an auxiliary burner for an electric furnace that has high iron scrap heating effect by appropriately and efficiently burning a solid fuel such as coal together with a gas fuel. An auxiliary burner for an electric furnace 100 has a structure in which a solid fuel injection tube 1, a gas fuel injection tube 2, and a combustion-supporting gas injection tube 3 are coaxially arranged in order from the center. The front end of the solid fuel injection tube 1 is located inside the gas fuel injection tube 2 to form, between the front end of the solid fuel injection tube 1 and the front end of the gas fuel injection tube 2, a first space 4 for solid fuel and gas fuel premixing surrounded by the front end portion of the gas fuel injection tube 2.

A method for producing a metal ingot by using an electron-beam melting furnace including an electron gun and a hearth that accumulates a molten metal of a metal raw material, in which, in a downstream region between an upstream region in which the metal raw material is supplied onto the surface of the molten metal and a first side wall, an irradiation line is disposed so as to block a lip portion and so that two end portions are positioned in the vicinity of the side wall of the hearth. A first electron beam is radiated onto the surface of the molten metal along the irradiation line, such that the surface temperature (T2) of the molten metal along the irradiation line is made higher than the average surface temperature (T0) of the entire surface of the molten metal in the hearth.

A method for producing a metal ingot by using an electron-beam melting furnace including an electron gun and a hearth that accumulates a molten metal of a metal raw material, in which, in a downstream region between an upstream region in which the metal raw material is supplied onto the surface of the molten metal and a first side wall, an irradiation line is disposed so as to block a lip portion and so that two end portions are positioned in the vicinity of the side wall of the hearth. A first electron beam is radiated onto the surface of the molten metal along the irradiation line, such that the surface temperature (T2) of the molten metal along the irradiation line is made higher than the average surface temperature (T0) of the entire surface of the molten metal in the hearth.

An apparatus and a process for the production of high purity silicon from silica containing material such as quartz or quartzite, using a vacuum electric arc furnace, are disclosed.