Fundamental decarburisation model of AOD process

A mathematical fluid flow model of gas injection in an argon-oxygen decarburisation (AOD) converter process has been coupled with a high temperature thermodynamic model. The current model is a further enhancement of an earlier developed three-dimensional, three-phase model, to also include some thermodynamics of the process. The model is based on fundamental transport equations and includes separate solutions for the steel, slag and the gas phases and their coupling by friction. The AOD model has been used to predict the first injection stage of decarburisation in an AOD converter. The predictions have been found to agree well with the corresponding results from an industrial process control model. One of the important observations from the simulations was that large concentration gradients of carbon exist in the AOD at an early stage and as the first injection step approaching its end the carbon gradients diminish. Also, the results show, in accordance with theory, that the local decarburisation rate is decreased at elevated pressures.