Significant advances have been made in the last 10years in high-rate steelmaking operations performed in arcsteelmaking furnaces (ASFs) with low production costs. Thedevelopment of such technologies was stimulated not only by theneed to optimize production costs, but also by the trend toward theconstruction of mini-mills haveing an annual capacity of 0.5-1.5million tons of rolled products and a flexible production cycle.The improvements to the steelmaking operation were madepossible by the combined and simultaneous use of different energysources and mixed charging of primary and secondary rawmaterials.The productivity of the ASF has approached theproductivity of converters of equivalent capacity, thanks to the useof progressive methods of preparing the lining and water-cooledcomponents of ASFs, the use of more electric power, and directheating of the scrap by the heat of the outgoing gases. However, anelectric furnace can make steel having the same contents of carbonand nitrogen as converter-made steel only by using a charge with ahigh content of scrap substitutes (liquid and solid pigiron,metallized raw materials, etc.).
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