OXIAL  [ Return towards  Applications  ]

Oxygen is injected into the furnace (blast furnace in the iron industry, electric or flash furnace in the non-ferrous industry) to increase productivity and to support the combustion of the pulverized coal  or fuel replacing part of the coke.

AIR LIQUIDE, aware of iron and non-ferrous producers' particular needs, has developed a new oxygen plant, OXIAL.

• Principles

Based on the "mixing column process" patented by AIR LIQUIDE, OXIAL allows oxygen at low purity (95%) to be produced directly at medium pressure.

For ironmakers, It also allows co-production of nitrogen, typically for PCI applications (coal transport, etc).

• Benefits
Enhanced safety
Reduced energy and oxygen costs
Lower investment
Reduced maintenance on the oxygen plant
High flexibility
Valorisation of unused air capacity of blowers
"Optimized Steel Production with Oxygen injection for Blast Furnaces..." , download the Acrobat PDF document


• References

In September 2001, ILVA adopted the innovative solution and built an OXIAL plant in its Taranto Works (2000 TPD).

Non-ferrous producers who have also chosen OXIAL to produce their oxygen include : Boliden (Sweden), Norddeutsche Affinerie (Germany) ...