Cooling Stacks

Converter waste gas cooling is highly challenging due to the tough operating conditions with high loads of abrasive dust particles as well as high temperatures and the general cyclic nature of this batch process.

We ensures high plant availability and best performance by applying state-of-the-art and proven designs and materials along with most modern calculation tools for dynamic simulation of process conditions such as heat flow, steam circuit, etc. 

In most cases, today the LD (BOF) converter cooling stacks are used for steam generation. Major benefits of the evaporative-cooled cooling stack system include value creation from waste, energy savings and reduced CO2 emissions.

The system is typically designed for suppressed combustion in combination with CO gas recovery at a postcombustion factor between 0.1 and 0.2. The adjustable skirt is lowered during oxygen blowing to close the gap between the converter mouth and cooling system to minimize indraft of false air. The suction pressure in the converter hood area is controlled by downstream facilities based on closed-loop pressure control. 

Heat is transferred from the waste gas through the heating surface to the cooling water, thereby generating steam. 

The steam is stored in a steam accumulator for constant feed into the overall plant steam network. To minimize operational costs, the cooling stack system can be operated in assisted or natural circulation mode.