Development of a Rotary Cylinder Atomizing Method of Slag for the Production of Amorphous Slag Particles

Carbon dioxide reduction is an important problem for steel industries. Steelmakers in Japan are trying to reuse and recycle waste energy and resources. Slag is a potential resource of energy and materials because it contains a lot of elements and is at the high temperature of around 1 500 degrees C when exhausted. The RCA (Rotary Cup Atomizing) method is a popular process in the slag atomizing method. However, when there is a slip between the slag and cup, the energy of cup rotation is not used effectively. In the present study, we developed a rotary cylinder atomizing (RCLA) method that can efficiently use the rotation energy for atomizing the molten slag. Two kinds of RCLA were developed and the slag atomizing behaviors were investigated. The minimum diameter of the slag particle was from 10 to 50% of the nozzle diameter. The obtained slag particles were amorphous spheres having high sphericity. The higher rotation speed and smaller nozzle diameter could make smaller particles.