Electrical Scale-Up of Metallurgical Processes

R. Schlanbusch[1], S. A. Halvorsen[1], S. Shinkevich[1], D. Gómez[2]
[1]Teknova, Kristiansand, Norway
[2]Department of Applied Mathematics & ITMATI, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, La Coruña, Spain
Published in 2014

The problem under investigation is electrical scale-up of a generic metallurgical process for primary metal production through resistive heating of slag by electric current, typically supplied by an AC three-phase system. Maxwell’s equations are analyzed revealing that the properties of the solution is determined by the parameter (L/δ)^2, where L is the linear size of the system and δ is the skin depth. 2-dimensional AC simulations have been performed showing unreasonably strong proximity effects, in accordance with theoretical considerations, while it is negligible for the 3D case. Finally, we have applied COMSOL to show how the current distribution for a three-phase system is affected by scale-up. The results agree well with the theoretical prediction.