Effect of Interfacial Tension on the Emulsification of Slag - Considerations on the CFD Modelling of Dispersion

Abstract

Top slag emulsification is a significant phenomenon in refining metallurgy. During bottom-or side-blowing, the flowing steel detaches small droplets from the top slag. The interfacial energy between liquid slag and steel is one of the most important factors affecting to emulsification. Surface energy, which can be described by interfacial tension, is the dominant property when determining slag emulsification. During chemical reactions, mass transfer between the phases decreases the interfacial tension at the slag-steel interface. The change in the interfacial tension affects the droplet formation.In this paper, the effect of interfacial tension on the emulsification was studied with Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) modelling. Three cases were simulated by considering a 3-phase system consisting of slag, steel and gas. A small area, where a 15 mm slag layer lies on top of the liquid steel, was simulated applying three different interfacial tensions, while keeping other properties unaltered. Gas was included to enable a free slag top-surface. The droplet diameter, size distribution and amount of droplets are in the scope of interest. It was found that the Sauter mean diameter of the slag droplets increased as the interfacial tension increased. The emulsification fraction varied between 1.621.95%.