Specific emission control processes
State of the art dry gas cleaning and CO-gas recovery technology for steelmaking converter plants.
The conversion of hot metal into steel produces CO-laden gases of high caloric value. The recovery of these gases means to save a considerable amount of energy.
Based on this idea Lurgi together with Thyssen developed in the 1980s the LT-Steel Gas Process.
The LT-Steel Gas Process has become more and more accepted and is in the meantime established worldwide.
Dry electrostatic gas cleaning is the key because it meets the demands of modern environmental protection.
The heart of this process is the cylindrical-type precipitator, specially designed for the dry collection of the fine dust in CO-laden gases.
Movable Skirt
The first precondition for the steel gas recovery is to capture the converter off-gases as concentrated as possible, the task of the movable skirt is to protect the off-gases from entrainment of false air, which would deteriorate the calorific value of the gases.
Waste Gas Cooling Stack
The gases leave the converter at a very high temperature. This heat is used for steam production and represents the first step of energy recovery.
Gas conditioning tower
In the gas conditioning tower, the gases are cooled down to a moderate temperature with especially designed two phase nozzles atomizing water into finest droplets. Off-gas and dust are still dry. Besides cooling, the separation of coarse dust particles and the gas conditioning for the following electrostatic precipitator take place.
Electrostatic Precipitator
The round design warrants a perfect plug flow of the gas which is essential for safe operation. The cylindrically shaped casing requires a special kind of dust removal. A specially designed dust scraper transports the collected fine dust to a trough type chain conveyer installed underneath the casing. Using latest controller systems for the high-voltage transformer rectifier sets improve the dust collection efficiency significantly and save energy costs. Downstream of the electrostatic precipitator an axial flow fan is installed.
Switchover Station
As soon as the gas contains a sufficient concentration of CO-gas, the switchover station directs the gases to the recovery system and during non-blowing time to the flare stack.
Gas cooler
The gas cooler cools the recovered gas down to the saturation temperature for safe and efficient storage in the gas holder. Downstream of the gas holder the recovered steel gas is led to the consumer grid via booster fans.
GEA's spray drying evaporation is a simple process that requires limited attention from the operator while maintaining high reliability. It can be easily integrated with either existing or new WFGD.
Environmental pollution of heavy metals is increasingly becoming a problem and global concern. In addition to the calomel process, often used in the field of non-ferrous metal production, GEA uses wet Electrostatic Precipitators (ESP), Spray Drying Absorption (SDA) and Ceramic Catalyst Candles (BisCat) to reduce heavy metals from flue gas.
Bubble Columns feature a high liquid to gas volume ratio, beneficial when conducting rather slow reactions in the liquid phase as large reaction volumes can be realized. Ideal when dry spots must be avoided in the contactor.
One of our most important activities in the refinery industry is gas cleaning for FCC units. GEA technologies combine engineering process engineering, environmental aspects and energy savings. Taken this into account, GEA offers clean air solutions while keeping the CAPEX/ OPEX low.