On May 11-13, CIVS Research Scientist Orlando Ugarte presented a Keynote at the EEC & EMECR Conference held in Milan, Italy with over 600 participants from all around the world in attendance. His Keynote “Optimization of Electric Arc Furnace Refining via CFD Simulation of Steel, Slag, and Freeboard Dynamics” was very well received by the audience.
This study presents a state‑of‑the‑art CFD methodology to simulate the industrial EAF refining stage. The model incorporates jet‑induced cavities within a volume‑of‑fluid representation of the molten steel, slag, and freeboard regions, capturing oxygen-steel reactions, decarburization, oxide formation, and oxide migration from metal to slag and freeboard. Validation against theoretical predictions demonstrates accurate modeling of decarburization and FeO/MnO generation across both high and low carbon regimes. The model is then applied to evaluate reduced oxygen injection scenarios by turning off oxygen jets at 200 s and 400 s. Results show that lowering the O₂ injection rate could decrease decarburization performance by ~5% while reducing FeO formation by up to 53%. This FeO reduction lowers carbon‑injection requirements for slag foaming, offering potential decreases in operating cost and CO₂ emissions in EAF operations. Authors of the paper include Orlando Ugarte (CIVS Research Scientist), Tyamo Okosun (CIVS Associate Director for Research) , Eugene Pretorius (Nucor) , Joe Maiolo (Linde), Chris Kovscek (Nucor) & Chenn Zhou (CIVS Director).
He also presented “CFD Modeling of Supersonic Jet Impingement on Molten Bath during Electric Arc Furnace Refining”.
An advanced CFD framework based on the volume of fluid (VOF) model was developed to investigate how supersonic oxygen injection interacts with the molten bath during EAF refining. While prior modelling studies often relied on simplified cavity representations or prescribed impingement geometries to reduce computational cost, the present work directly resolves both the compressible jet and the resulting bath deformation using a fully coupled multiphase approach. The simulation domain and operating conditions were based on the Nucor Texas EAF. To maintain an accurate representation of the furnace while managing computational cost, the model isolates a section of the full Nucor Texas EAF containing a single coherent jet and a portion of the molten bath. Jet angle, lance position, and stand-off distance were selected to reflect typical industrial practice. The simulations were applied to two slag conditions to assess how jet impingement behaviour varies with foaming state and slag depth. In the first case, a fully foamed slag layer with a height of 0.3 m was examined, and the resulting cavity formation, mixing dynamics, and transient bath response were quantified. A second case with a thinner, more liquid slag layer of 0.1 m was analysed under comparable conditions. Under Mach 2 coherent-jet conditions, the model captured key dynamics of cavity evolution and steel-slag motion. The jet generated a cavity with a maximum penetration depth of roughly 0.3 m and a repeatable oscillation period of about 0.2 s for both cases. These quantified cavity and flow characteristics provide physics-based metrics for optimizing jet velocity, placement, and operating conditions in industrial EAF refining. Authors of the paper include Jacob Schulman (CIVS Graduate Research Assistant), Orlando Ugarte (CIVS Research Scientist), Tyamo Okosun (CIVS Associate Director for Research), Eugene Pretorius (Nucor), Joe Maiolo (Linde) & Chenn Zhou (CIVS Director).
Nucor and Linde are member companies of the SMSVC.
The 14th European Electric Steelmaking conference (EEC 2026) covered a wide range of topics related to the production of steel using electric arc furnaces (EAFs) and other electric-based processes. EEC 2026 & EMECR 2026 provided opportunities for networking with industry leaders, researchers, and policymakers, to discuss collaborative projects and partnerships. The conference’s comprehensive scope ensures that the conference addressed the current challenges and future opportunities in the steelmaking industry, fostering innovation and sustainability.
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