Abstract
With a limited supply of electricity, and sharp increase of electricity tariffs, South Africa’s share of world ferrochrome production has declined to 38% in 2011. The situation is set to continue and could go from bad to worse in the near future.Consequently, all ferrochrome producers in South Africa are looking for any alternatives that can use less electricity. An investigation of the effect of various reductants on the electric energy consumption is under consideration.
A group of reductants, consisting of 6 types of coke and 2 types of anthracite, is selected to investigate the effect on energy consumption of ferrochrome production in submerged arc furnace. An excel-based simulation is used to calculate all charges and energy usage with similar production conditions used by most ferrochrome producers in South Africa.