Modeling of the residence time of droplets in BOF slag

Determining the residence time of ejected iron-carbon droplets in the slag is a key element in calculating the refining rates in basic oxygen steelmaking. The size distribution of droplets, ejected due to oxygen jet impingement on the liquid hot metal surface was calculated via a mathematical model. Combined with industrial scale experimental data from the literature, the residence time of given droplet size fractions are calculated. A recently developed mathematical model was used for predicting the residence times. The predictions were found to be in sufficient agreement with residence times determined through radioactive tracer methods.