The electric smelting of cast iron and steel is the most power-intensive phase of foundry production. Among different ways of reduce of power consumption a interest for the operational production introduces a heating of a metal charge before feed to a furnace. This way does not demand considerable investments, of the manufacturing areas or changes of technology and can be run in by forces of firm.

The main advantages of the gas heating of a charge for electrosmelting

• reduction on 25-30 % of costs on the electric power for the score of lower cost of natural gas and accordingly cost reduction of foundry production;
• reduction of smelt time and conforming raising the productivity of a furnace;
• reduction of an electrode consumption (for arc smelting), alloying and modifying components;
• reduction of waste of metal and increase of metal quality;
• reduction of quantity of dust and gas at the expense of usage of an effective system of clearing from a local source.

The enterprise "Technolit" together with the specialists of the Gomel State Technical University executes the working and binding to existing technical process and operational production equipment, author supervision of manufacturing and placing on production of the high-performance installations of a heating of a charge. Two types of the installations are offered to the customer: two and one-stage (with a top and bottom gas feed). The productivity of the installations is established under requirements of the customer and makes from 3 up to 20 tons per hour.

Two-stage installation

One-stage installation

For maintenance of constant heating on an altitude of a bucket and the neutralization of waste gases the installation are equipped with a unit of afterburning, system of an aspiration and clearing, special equipment.

Most effective from the point of view of gas flow rate (13-15 m³ on 1 ton of a charge with allowance for of consumption of natural gas on activity of a unit of afterburning) is the two-stage installation with an aspiration of waste gases from a smelting furnace and two stages of a heating:
1 stage – pre-warming by hot gases, passed through a charge bank (T=100-150⁰C),
2 stage – final heating to temperature 600-650 ⁰C.

The most simple, from the point of view of exploitation, and cheap, from the point of view of costs, is the one-stage installation of a heating of a charge with the upper feed of hot gases. Such installation has efficiency (60-65 %), temperature of a heating of charge 500 ⁰C, average discharge of gas 15-17 m³ per 1 ton of a charge (with allowance for of unit of afterburning), cost about 10-12 thousand USD (that in 1,5 times of the more cheaply two-stage installation).

The payback of the tendered installations is 5-6 months, and economic benefit only from costs decrease on power supplies about 60-70 thousand USD annually at the annual production output at a level of 10000 tons of castings.