Thermodynamics-Based Modeling of Iron- and Steelmaking Processes Using Flow Sheet-Based Approach Employing METSIM

Abstract

Iron- and steelmaking processes consume an enormous amount of materials in a large-scale production unit. The overall process consists of the flow of material as well as heat across large number of interconnected unit process reactors. Almost all reactors have deviations from thermodynamic equilibrium in overall sense, but they can be classified as large number of interconnected localized equilibrium reactors with restricted interactions among them. Therefore, the role of thermodynamic package like FactSage [1] and sequential modular-based package like METSIM [2] becomes very important for process design and control as well as for studying the parameters to achieve minimum cost and CO2 emissions. In the paper flow sheet, modeling-based approach with coupled application of METSIM is demonstrated for modeling of blast furnace ironmaking, BOF steelmaking and ladle furnace processes. These processes are demonstrated using the capabilities of METSIM for effective process control.