In the steel industry, the use of compressed air is included in various production processes. Mainly the following major uses, they can be divided into: sintering pneumatic conveying, blast furnace blowing, continuous casting steam mist cooling, converter bottom blowing, steel belt surface blowing, a variety of pneumatic instrumentation valves, pneumatic motors, pulse bag filter blowback, pneumatic conveying ash and so on.
1. Sintering Production Line: The first step in steel production is to sinter the ore into pellets, this process requires the use of large amounts of air, and the air compressor can provide high-pressure air, the moisture and volatiles in the ore pellets to be discharged, so as to ensure the quality and stability of the ore pellets.
2. Blast furnace production line: Blast furnace is the core equipment of steel production, it has an extremely important point is the need to use a large amount of compressed air to drive a variety of equipment and tools. For example, the blast furnace gas needs to use centrifugal air compressor to inject compressed air for combustion; the blast furnace slag needs to use compressed air for discharge; and the blast furnace shell needs to use compressed air for cooling and so on.
3. Continuous casting production line: Continuous casting is an important process in steel production, which still requires the use of large amounts of compressed air to drive a variety of equipment and tools. For example, the continuous casting machine needs to use compressed air to control the flow and temperature of the steel; continuous casting crystalliser needs to use compressed air to control the crystallisation speed and quality of the crystallisation and so on.
4. Rolling lines: Rolling is the final step in steel production, and it still requires the help of compressors that use large quantities of compressed air to drive various equipment and tools. For example, rolling mills require the use of screw compressors to inject compressed air to control the pressure and speed of the rolls; steel plate cooling requires the use of compressed air for cooling and so on.
5.Auxiliary equipment and safety: maintenance air spanners, sandblasters, etc. rely heavily on compressed air. Emergency shut-off valves, dust removal systems (e.g. baghouse dust removal) require compressed air for a quick response.
Energy saving and environmental protection: Waste heat recovery: Some compressors can be used with the steel mill's waste heat power generation system to improve energy utilisation.
Waste disposal: Compressed air is used in pulse reverse dust collectors, which can clean particles from sintering flue gas.
Compressor type: centrifugal compressor, screw compressor
High reliability: 24/7 continuous operation, need to pay attention to dustproof, high temperature resistant design.
High flow and high pressure: such as blast furnace blower needs output pressure 0.4-0.6MPa, flow rate over 10000m³/min.
Air quality: instrument air needs to be dried and filtered (such as adsorption dryer + precision filter).
Note: For its special requirements in the high flow and high pressure requirements, the industry usually use multiple units of air compression system operating in concert, rather than relying on a single device, multiple compressors matrix configuration scheme is not only to meet the huge demand for air, but also based on the reliability, energy efficiency and economy of the comprehensive considerations, want to know more about the steel industry air compressor configuration scheme can be clicked here.
Air compressors are the ‘invisible heart’ of steel production, directly affecting energy consumption, efficiency and product quality. With the development of the industry towards green and intelligent, the application of high-efficiency inverter compressors and oil-free screw machines is gradually expanding.
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