USE OF A PLASMA LADLE REHEATER IN STEELMAKING.

The Plasma Ladle Reheater (PLR) is a metallurgical process that uses plasma arc torches to supply electric heat to a ladle of molten steel for the purpose of either maintaining or raising the temperature of the steel. The temperature of the steel in the ladle may be required to be maintained or raised during sequence casting, in the teeming process or when 'aborts' are encountered in the vertical continuous casting process. Plasma Ladle Reheater technology is a proven method for saving heats. The PLR process is an alternative to 'dumping' the ladle of molten steel into a mixer, where the temperature and metal chemistry are altered and the heat is rendered out-of-specification. The results of 18 months of testing with a 220-ton PLR prototype demonstration unit (PDU) are presented.