New technology for the recovery of chromium from EAF stainless steelmaking slag

During the production of stainless steel in an electric arc furnace a significant part of the charged chromium is transferred to the slag. With the new technology of aluminium injection, chromium is recovered from the slag, thus alloying components and costs are saved. Due to the exothermic reduction reaction a release of heat is additionally achieved leading to a decreased specific consumption of electric energy and increased productivity. The new process was tested successfully under operational conditions at BGH Edelstahl Siegen GmbH in collaboration with VDEh-Betriebsforschungs-institut GmbH, and afterwards profitably realized by BGH as a standard procedure at its running EAF.