Maerz Regenerative Shaft Kiln for Manufacturing Lime for Oxygen Steelmaking with Various Fuels

Abstract

Since the development of the Oxygen steelmaking process, increased consideration is paid to the lime as a very important flux. This development has, however, at the same time resulted in steadily increasing quality requirements for the lime. In order to meet this demand, new types of kilns for the production of quick lime had to be designed. In the present paper a short survey is given on the influence of the various quality factors of lime on the steelmaking process as well as on the requirements for quick lime, varying not only from country to country, but even from steel plant to steel plant. The Maerz parallel flow regenerative lime kiln, which had been developed in Austria in the fifties by Schmid-Hofer and which is very suitable for the production of steelmaking lime, is described. Until now, approx. 190 units of this kiln type have been constructed or are under construction in industrial and developing countries all over the world. The capacity of these kilns varies between 50 and 600 tpd. They can be heated by gaseous, liquid and solid fuels. Finally, results from plants operating Maerz lime kilns are reported and a comparison made between these shaft kilns and rotary kilns.