MODELING THE MELTING RATE OF AN ERYTHROPHLEUM SUAVEOLENS CHARCOAL-FIRED CUPOLA FURNACE WITH OXYGEN ENRICHMENT

Abstract

Scraps of cast iron were melted and the melt ratios for ES charcoal-fired cupola furnace with oxygen enrichment was 9.2:1. Multiple linear regression model was formulated for the effects of air pressure, melting time and fuel consumed on melting rate in the iron melting cupola furnace. An R2 value of 99.5% confirms the validity of the models and established the existence of statistically significant relationships between the melting rate and the control variables. The coefficients b0eco, b1eco, b2eco and b3eco are -941.940, 918.840, 1.117 and 3.897 respectively; and the results of the ttest indicated that regression coefficients b1eco, b2eco and b3eco were statistically significant and not equal to zero (as given by hypothesis ii) at 0.025 level of significance and 11 degrees of freedom (table t-value=t0.025, 11 = 2.201). The residuals’ average was zero with the standard deviation of approximately 1.0 implying that residuals were actually independent. The average variance inflation factor VIF of 1.562 indicated that multi co-linearity was not a problem (i.e. VIF < 4), which clearly demonstrated that air blast pressure; melting time and fuel consumed was not significantly interacting factors. The developed model can be used to develop a computer software to predict the behavior of melting rate of an erythrophleum suaveolens charcoal-fired cupola furnace with oxygen enrichment as a function of air blast pressure, melting time and fuel consumed.