1metallurgical Industrial Furnaces

Metallurgical Industrial Furnaces
An industrial furnace is essentially a thermal enclosure and is employed

to process raw materials at high temperatures both in solid state and
liquid state. The principle objectives of an industrial furnace are (i) to
utilize heat efficiently so that losses are minimum, and (ii) to handle the
different phases (solid, liquid or gaseous) moving at different velocities
for different times and temperatures such that erosion and corrosion
of the refractory are minimum.
Industrial furnaces which used in the metallurgical industry for carrying

out various metallurgical processes are known as metallurgical
industrial furnaces. Metallurgical furnaces are mostly used for (i)
extraction of metals from ores, (ii) calcining and sintering of ores, (iii)
melting, refining and alloying of metals, (iv) heating of metals, (v)
carbonizing of coals, and (vi) heat treatment of metals etc. Energy
sources for metallurgical furnaces are (i) combustion of fossil fuels,
such as solid, liquid and gaseous fuels, (ii) electric energy such as
resistance heating, induction heating or arc heating, and (iii) chemical
energy such as exothermic reactions.
Process heating metallurgical furnaces are insulated enclosures

designed to deliver heat to the charge. Melting ferrous metals needs
very high temperatures (higher than 1250 deg C), and can involve
erosive and corrosive conditions. Shaping operations use high
temperatures (1050 deg C to 1250 deg C) to soften the materials for
processing such as forging, rolling, pressing, bending, drawing, and
extruding etc. Treating can use midrange temperatures (600 deg C to
1050 deg C) to physically change crystalline structures or chemically
(metallurgically) alter surface compounds, including hardening or
relieving strains in metals, or modifying their ductility. These include
aging, annealing, austenitizing and carburizing, hardening,
malleabilizing, martinizing, nitriding, sintering, spheroidizing, stress-
relieving, and tempering. Processes which use low temperatures (less
than 600 deg C) include drying, polymerizing, and other chemical
changes.
Metallurgical furnaces which do not show colour, that is, in which the
temperature is below 650 deg C, are generally called ‘ovens’. However,
the dividing line between ovens and furnaces is not sharp. For example,
coke ovens operate at high temperatures (higher than 900 deg C). Many
of the furnaces are termed ovens, kilns, heaters, afterburners,
incinerators, or destructors. The furnace of a boiler is its ‘firebox’ or
‘combustion chamber’, or a fire-tube boiler’s ‘Morrison tube.’
Industrial heating operations encompass a wide range of temperatures,

which depend partly on the material being heated and partly on the
purpose of the heating process and subsequent operations. In any
heating process, the maximum furnace temperature always exceeds
the temperature to which the furnace charge is to be heated.
Classification of metallurgical industrial furnaces
Metallurgical industrial furnaces are classified in several ways. These

are described below.
Furnace classification by heat source – Heat is generated in the

furnace to increase the furnace temperature to a level which is higher
than the temperature needed for the process, either (i) by the
combustion of a fuel, or (ii) by conversion of electric energy to heat.
Some furnaces also utilize the waste heat from the metallurgical
process. Fuel-fired furnaces are most widely used, but electrically
heated furnaces are also used where they offer advantages which
cannot always be measured in terms of fuel cost. In fuel-fired furnaces,
the nature of the fuel can make a difference in the furnace design, but
that is not much of a problem with modern industrial furnaces and
combustion equipment. Additional basis for classification can relate to
the place where combustion begins and the means for directing the
products of combustion (POC).
Furnace classification by the method handling materials into, through,

and out of the furnace – Furnaces can be batch type or continuous
type.
Batch-type furnaces are often termed as ‘in-and-out furnaces. These

furnaces have one temperature set point, but have usually 3 zones of
control for maintaining uniform temperature throughout, because of a
need for more heat at a door and at the ends. These furnaces can be
charged manually or by a manipulator. After placing the charge in the
furnace, both the furnace and its charge are brought upto the required
temperature together, and depending on the process, the furnace may
or may not be cooled before it is opened and the charge is removed
from the furnace usually through a single charging and discharging
door. Batch furnace configurations include box, slot, car-hearth, shuttle,
bell, elevator, and bath (including immersion). For long solid loads,
crosswise piers and top-left/bottom-right burner locations circulate for
better uniformity. Bell and elevator kiln furnaces are often cylindrical.
Furnaces for pot, kettle, and dip-tank containers can be fired
tangentially with high velocity, low swirl flames instead of flat flame
with very high swirl. There are many types of batch furnaces. Examples
are crucible, pot, kettle, dip-tank furnaces, and movable hearth furnace
etc.
Continuous furnaces move the charged material while it is being

heated. Material passes over either a stationary hearth or the hearth
itself moves. If the hearth is stationary, the material is pushed or pulled
over skids or rolls, or is moved through the furnace by wire ropes or
mechanical pushers. Except for delays, a continuous furnace operates
at a constant heat input rate, burners being rarely shut off. A constantly
moving (or frequently moving) conveyor or hearth eliminates the need
to cool and reheat the furnace (as is the case with a batch furnace),
thus it saves energy. Horizontal straight-line continuous furnaces are
more common than rotary hearth furnaces, rotary drum furnaces,
vertical shaft furnaces, or fluidized bed furnaces. Common examples
of continuous furnaces are reheating furnace in rolling mill, continuous
belt-conveyor type heat treat furnace, roller hearth furnace, and tunnel
furnaces / tunnel kilns.
Alternatives to straight-line horizontal continuous furnaces are rotary

hearth (disc or donut) furnaces, inclined rotary drum furnaces, tower
furnaces, shaft furnaces, fluidized bed furnaces, and liquid heaters and
boilers. Rotary hearth or rotating table furnaces are very useful for many
purposes. Charges are placed on the merry-go-round-like hearth, and
later removed after they have completed almost a whole revolution. The
rotary hearth, disc or donut (with a hole in the middle), travels on a
circular track. The rotary hearth or rotating table furnace is especially
useful for cylindrical charges, which cannot be pushed through a
furnace, and for shorter pieces which can be stood on end or laid end
to end. The central column of the donut type helps to separate the
control zones.
Multi hearth furnace is a variation of the rotary hearth furnace with

many levels of round stationary hearths with rotating rabble arms which
gradually plow granular or small lump materials radially across the
hearths, causing them to eventually drop through ports to the next level.
Inclined rotary drum furnaces, kilns, incinerators, and dryers often use
long type luminous flames. If drying is involved, substantially more
excess air than normal can be justified to provide greater moisture
pickup ability.
Tower furnaces conserve floor space by running long strip or strand

materials vertically on tall furnaces for drying, coating, curing, or heat
treating (especially annealing). In some cases, the load can be
protected by a special atmosphere, and heated with radiant tubes or
electrical means.
Shaft furnaces are usually refractory-lined vertical cylinders, in which

gravity conveys solids and liquids to the bottom and by-product gases
to the top. Examples are cupolas, blast furnaces, and lime kilns.
Fluidized bed furnaces utilize intense gas convection heat transfer and
physical bombardment of solid heat receiver surfaces with millions of
rapidly vibrating hot solid particles. The furnaces are of several types
as given below.
• A refractory-lined container, with a fine grate bottom, filled with inert (normally refractory)
balls, pellets, or granules which are heated by POC from a combustion chamber below the
grate. Loads or boiler tubes are immersed in the fluidized bed above the grate for heat
processing or to generate steam.
• Similar to above, but the granules are fuel particles or sewage sludge to be incinerated. The
space below the grate is a pressurized air supply plenum. The fuel particles are ignited
above the grate and burn in fluidized suspension while physically bombarding the water
walls of the upper chamber and water tubes immersed in its fluidized bed.
• The fluidized bed is filled with cold granules of a coating material (e.g. polymer), and loads
to be coated are heated in a separate oven to a temperature above the melting point of the
granules. The hot loads are then dipped (by a conveyor) into the open-topped fluidized bed
for coating.

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Metallurgical Industrial Furnaces

An industrial furnace is essentially a thermal enclosure and is employed

Industrial furnaces which used in the metallurgical industry for carrying

Process heating metallurgical furnaces are insulated enclosures

Industrial heating operations encompass a wide range of temperatures,

Classification of metallurgical industrial furnaces

Metallurgical industrial furnaces are classified in several ways. These

Furnace classification by heat source – Heat is generated in the

Furnace classification by the method handling materials into, through,

Batch-type furnaces are often termed as ‘in-and-out furnaces. These

Continuous furnaces move the charged material while it is being

Alternatives to straight-line horizontal continuous furnaces are rotary

Multi hearth furnace is a variation of the rotary hearth furnace with

Tower furnaces conserve floor space by running long strip or strand

Shaft furnaces are usually refractory-lined vertical cylinders, in which

processing or to generate steam.

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