Analyses of the generation of electric energy by using a TEG-type generator during continuous casting of steel

ABSTRACT Steel manufacturing is a process that requires large investments in fuels, iron ore, coal, among others. As such, global concerns related to environment preservation increases. As a consequence, alternative technologies may emerge as adequate management platforms of the available resources. For steel industry the conservation of energy has a prime importance, making heat recovery a hot topic. This research work describes the use of a set of Thermoelectric Generator (TEG) in order to recover residual energy during continuous casting operations. The TEG modules are constituted by manganese and calcium oxides, which are able to convert heat from the 1045 carbon steel plates in the end of continuous casting process into electrical energy. Each square module measures 64.5 mm of side and 8.5mm of thickness, being able to generate 12.3W if hot side temperature is at 800ºC and cold side at 50ºC. In the present contribution, estimations of quantity of recovered energy are shown. Thermal simulations using the software Deform as well as fitting methods have been implemented and incorporated to each other so that the effects of temperature, time and plate thickness could be examined. Considering a plate of 1045 steel with 400 mm of thickness and temperature of 1050ºC, continuous casted at 0.3 m/min, it was estimated a recovered energy equivalent to the consumption of electrical energy of 23 average Brazilian residences was estimated.