Submerged Arc Furnace Market Trends

Growth Drivers

• Automation enhancing SAF’s overall performance: The digital shift is driving the integration of automation and smart technologies in submerged arc furnace, enhancing their capabilities, features, performance, and safety. Automation such as advanced control systems and sensors are enhancing real-time monitoring in submerged arc furnace. Automation systems monitor critical parameters such as pressure, temperature, electrode position, and electrical current in real-time, which aids operators in having efficient insights to make effective decisions.
  
  Remote monitoring also enhances safety as the operators don’t need to be physically present in the risky furnace environment and help in predictive maintenance by analyzing data from advanced sensors. With the ongoing technological advancements, submerged arc furnace systems are estimated to witness significant transformation, leading to their increasing demand in the metallurgical field. Tenova Pyromet AutoFurn by Tenova is one of the smart and advanced furnace systems with an additional level of controlling and monitoring features.
• Use of SAFs in high-quality silicon metal production: The use of silicon metal is increasing rapidly in electronics, semiconductors, and energy-efficient solutions such as solar panels. Submerged arc furnace are effective technologies in the production of silicon metal as they offer an optimized method for high-quality silicon metal production compared to other counterparts. Thus, the growing demand for silicon is set to have a direct influence on the submerged arc furnace market growth. CHNZBTECH is a leading submerged arc furnace manufacturer in China and offers high-performance silicon metal furnace systems ranging from 6.3MVA (mega volt-amps) to 45MVA, and has over 100sets 33MVA metal silicon project EPC contracted.

Challenges

• Electricity-intensive process: The submerged arc furnace runs on substantial electricity as it is required to maintain the high temperatures for smelting. Electricity prices are not the same in every region, the fluctuations and volatilization in electricity prices increase the operational costs, which may hamper the submerged arc furnace market growth. The energy intensity of the process can deter investments in the submerged arc furnace plants leading to the adoption of cheaper alternative methods such as hydrometallurgy.
• Expensive submerged arc furnace infrastructure: Installing a submerged arc furnace system is an expensive process and can act as a barrier for small-scale companies. The installment of the submerged arc furnace system also necessitates auxiliary equipment such as electrodes, power supplies, and transformers, which add up to the overall furnace infrastructure costs, limiting sales of submerged arc furnace.