A Data-Driven Model for Energy Consumption in the Sintering Process

Abstract

As environmental performance becomes increasingly important, the sintering process is receiving more attention since it consumes large amounts of energy. This paper proposes a data-driven model for sintering energy consumption, which considers both model accuracy and time efficiency. The proposed model begins with removing data anomalies using a local outlier factor (LOF) algorithm and an attribute selection module using the RReliefF method. Then, to accurately predict sintering energy consumption, an integrated predictive model is employed that uses bagging-enhanced extreme learning machine (ELM) and support vector regression (SVR) machine, combined with an entropy weight method. A case study is used to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed model using actual production data for a year. Results show that the proposed model outperforms other models and is computationally efficient. Optimal parameters of the LOF (1.3) and number of attributes (30) were identified. It was found that coke powder has the most significant impact on the solid energy consumption (SEC), while cooling water flow rate provides the most significant impact on the gas energy consumption (GEC) within each recorded attribute variation. Parametric analysis further revealed the relationships between energy consumption and the significant attributes mentioned above. It is suggested that the proposed model could effectively reduce the energy consumption by attaining more efficient attribute settings.