Crude Steel Production Research Articles

Bofy-fuzzy logic control for the basic oxygen furnace (BOF)

In this paper, fuzzy modeling for the control of basic oxygen furnace (BOF) processes is proposed. BOF is a widely preferred and effective steel making method due to its higher productivity and considerably low production cost. Therefore, today almost 65% of the total crude steel production in the world is met by using the BOF method. Higher steel output at lower cost is one of the main objectives of modern steel making methods. In order to accomplish this objective, fuzzy modeling was employed in this study in order to control some variables related to the BOF process. Fuzzy modeling and control in BOF promise a solution to the strongly non-linear problems associated with the process, which have so far proven extremely difficult to be solved by conventional control methods. Data set was selected as inputs from the real empirical BOF data in an integrated steel plant based in Turkey. Although there were negligible deviations from the target values, most of the fuzzy results obtained using MATLAB-Fuzzy Logic Toolbox version 5.0 were found to be acceptable. As a result of the application of the proposed modeling, acceptable levels of compatibility were achieved compared to the empirical BOF data and targeted steel composition. The paper indicates how fuzzy logic would be effectively used for improved process control of BOF furnace in steel making industry.

Energy balance application for Erdemir Coke Plant with thermal camera measurements

Ereğli Iron and Steel Works (Erdemir) began its activities on May 15 1965 with an annual production capacity of 450 000 tons and has made important contributions to Turkey's economy ever since. Today, with a total amount of crude steel production capacity of three million tons, it is the largest iron and steel factory and the sole producer of flat steel in the country. Erdemir produces hot and cold rolled coils, zinc, tin, and chromium plated steel. Coke factories are very important facilities of integrated steel plants. Metallurgical coke, one of the main input factors of the blast furnaces as a source of energy and chemical reagent, obtained from a blend of different coking coals through a process of heating coal in an oxygen free atmosphere, are produced in coke factories. In Erdemir, equipment failures, corrosion, heat losses and wear of refractors have been determined by thermal camera measurements since 1994. It is used as a predictive tool where data are analyzed with the use of a computer program. The results are distributed to related departments via the company intranet systems. In this study, an energy balance application has been done for the coke plant of Erdemir. An energy input and output model has been established in order to determine the lost energy in the process. According to the study, the sensible heat of the red-hot coke accounts for approximately 59.60% of the total heat output from the coke oven, a considerably large heat quantity. On the other hand, heat losses in the form of radiation were determined with the use of thermal camera measurements whereby the results are shown in Sankey diagrams along with other related data relevant to the Erdemir Coke Plant.

Endogenous technological change and emissions: the case of the German steel industry

The paper starts from the observation that innovation and technical progress are only portrayed superficially in the predominant environmental economic top-down models, and that the assumption of perfect factor substitution does not correctly mirror actual production conditions in many energy-intensive production sectors. Bottom-up models, on the other hand, neglect macroeconomic interdependencies between the modelled sector and the general economy. This paper presents a new modelling approach: in an integrated bottom-up/top-down approach based on the example of crude steel production in Germany, it is demonstrated how technological progress can be portrayed as process-related and policy-induced and how the technology choice between limitational processes can be explicitly modelled and implemented in the econometric input–output model PANTA RHEI. The new modelling approach presented permits a process-specific analysis of the impacts of changed frame conditions, the effects of which on the choice of technology, on the one hand, and the technological progress on the other, can be described endogenous to the model. These features are demonstrated in a CO 2 tax simulation. Results show that policy-induced technological change is—besides a switch in production processes—the major source of CO 2 reduction for the steel sector.

Exergy Analysis of Steel Production Processes

Continuous increase of the annual amount of steel scrap generated presents a problem to the sustainability of human society. The effective utilization of scrap is a serious problem to be solved in the near future, and the optimization of the global system of steel production should be considered from various viewpoints, particularly those of environmental load and material efficiency. For the consideration of a global system that contains many different kinds of flow, a criterion for evaluating the efficiency of the system is necessary for optimizing the utilization of materials in the system. The concept of exergy was adopted in this study and the application of exergy analysis to the evaluation of a complicated system was considered. A simulation model was developed for the steel industry in Japan and the exergy analysis of the Blast Furnace-LD converter (BF-LD) process and the Electric Arc Furnace (EF) process was conducted. The exergy loss was expressed as a function of parameters, such as the mixing rate of pig iron in the EF process and the total exergy loss in the system was calculated. The applicability of exergy as a criterion for the analysis of a production process and for evaluating material efficiency was discussed. Environment and recycling become important keywords in the consideration of a new industry structure for optimizing material efficiency and environmental load for production and utilization of materials. In the present study, a methodology for evaluating the degree of optimization in the system includ- ing material recycling was investigated. The Blast Furnace- LD converter (BF-LD) process for the production of high- grade steel and the Electric Arc Furnace (EF) process for the production of low-grade steel are the main steel produc- tion processes used in Japan. This division occurs because of contamination by tramp elements as impurities, which is inevitable in processes using low-grade scrap as feed. The percentage of EF steel in the total production of crude steel in Japan is about 33%, 1) and the total amount of the accumula- tive steel stock in Japan is increasing continuously. Generally, processes that consume large amounts of electric energy for heating and smelting are wasteful from the viewpoints of ef- fective energy use and environmental load. However, the op- timum steel production ratio in BF-LD and EF processes has not been investigated clearly. For the further improvement of steel productivity, it is necessary to optimize the steel pro- duction system from various viewpoints such as the suitable selection of feed materials, the total demand for steel products in society, and the impurities limit in the steel product. The recent state of the steel industry in Japan is that the amount of scrap is increasing annually and its quality is de- creasing. Therefore, the effective use of iron resources orig- inating from iron ore for the dilution of scrap has recently become a principal subject in the EF steel industry, together with the improvement of scrap recovery technology. Recent electric furnaces are operated with a high mixing rate of pig iron, from 20 to 50%, as iron feed, and other furnaces have been combined with a converter to enable the hybrid steel- making process. 2) Since it is very important for the steel in- dustry in Japan to utilize the iron stock effectively as valu- able resource, the optimum ratio of EF product to BF product and that of scrap utilized in the EF process to that utilized in the converter were investigated in this study in terms of the efficiency of the use of iron resources originating from iron ore for the dilution. A model of the iron and steel recycling system including material flow was constructed, and the ther- modynamic property of exergy was applied to estimate the measure of optimization for the steel production system. 2. The Concept of Exergy

The diffusion of new steelmaking technology

The share of electric arc furnace steel-making technology in world crude steel production has risen from 15% in 1970 to 34% in 1997. This trend has permanently altered the composition of metallics feed into the steel-making process since the electric arc furnace primarily uses scrap steel as feed, unlike the more traditional basic oxygen method, which uses iron ore and coking coal as feed. Continuation of this trend will have significant implications for iron ore and coking coal demand in the longer term. This paper uses the diffusion curve approach to technology adoption to model and forecast growth in the EAF share of crude steel production in Japan and the United States. The inclusion of a dynamic adoption ceiling within the diffusion model framework is a major advantage over previous work in this area. These models are applied to two of the world's largest steel producers, Japan and the United States. In Japan, the EAF share of steel production is forecast to rise from 32.8% in 1997 to 36.5% in 2010, and from 43.8% to 50.1% in the United States over the same period.

Coal and Coke for Blast Furnaces.

The main charge material for the steel production is liquid hot metal. It is mainly produced in blast furnaces. The blast furnace operates according to the counter-current principle. The process makes the blast furnace reliant on lumpy materials to maintain a gas-permeable stock column. The most important reducing agent is therefore the lumpy coke. Auxiliary reducing agents, such as coal or oil, are injected via the tuyeres. The tasks of coke and coal for the hot metal production and the requirements of the blast furnace on coal-and coke-quality are described. The consumption of coal and coke in the blast furnace is met on the one hand by the market or on the other hand by the own production. It depends on the conditions of the market and the availability of production facilities. World-wide the production of hot metal and crude steel via the blast furnace/converter route is regarded as the dominant process line also in future. Consequently, after their successes in the past, the ironmaking and steelmaking industry have joined their efforts with the cokemaking industry to exploit still more development potentials for hot metal production.

The Iron and Steel Industry in Russia and the CIS in the Mid-1990s

A specialist on the industrial economy of the former USSR assesses trends in the mining of iron ore and related ferroalloy metals; the production of crude steel and mill products; and domestic consumption, inter-republican trade, and export demand for steel products. Particular attention is devoted to the impacts of changing organizational structure and pricing policies on steel output, the effects of disrupted inter-republican trade flows after the dissolution of the USSR, the role of foreign investment in the CIS steel industry, shifts in steelmaking technology (e.g., continuous casting), and trends in production of major ferroalloy raw materials (e.g., manganese, chromium). A concluding section focused on trends in the intensity of steel use relative to GNP provides grounds for assessing possible future levels of steel output in the major producing countries. 17 tables, 63 references. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: L61, L72, P2.

Numerical simulation model for exhaust gas transportation of dust in the BOF

During the BOF process for the production of crude steel, the specific amount of dust emitted is of the order of 2 % of the steel weight at turn down. The process gas conveys the dust through the boiler system into the primary and secondary dust catchers. The transportation of dust particles is influenced by blowing parameters; physical properties of process gas and of dust phases; and, type and layout of the converter and the filter system. In this work, a numerical simulation model is developed that simulates the pneumatic conveyance and sedimentation of primarily coarse dust particles in the BOF gas cleaning system. Comparison is then made of predicted coarse dust characteristics with values for dust sampled from an existing plant in order to verify the plausibility of the developed model.

The energy crises and metals consumption and production in LDCs

Abstract This paper presents a historical analysis of the evolution of the energy and metals consumption and production in less developed countries (LDCs), encompassing a period of 25 years (1965–90), focusing specially on Latin America and on Brazil. The period permits an evaluation of the impact of the energy crisis on patterns of economic growth, associated to energy and metal production profiles in developing and developed countries. This complex relationship is evaluated, using aluminium, copper and crude steel consumption and production profiles. This paper was presented to the First International Symposium on Mining & Development, July 1995, Campinas, Brazil.

The Austrian Steel Industry

The Austrian crude steel production amount to 4.6 Mt in 1988 (4.7 in 1989), 95 % of which is accounted for by Voest Alpine Stahl AG.

「２００１年のエネルギー」特集 Ｖ 製鉄所におけるエネルギー状況

The iron and steel industry, most representative of heavy industry, is the largest energy consuming industry, accounting for about 13% of the nation' s total energy consumption. Approximately 80% of this 13% is consumued by integrated steelworks, which are supplied with energy virtually in the form of coal alone.New processes such as the smelting reduction process for supplementing iron production by the blast furnace process, the semi-solid process and the near net shape continuous casting process for process elimination and quality improvement are being developed today, and the commercialization of some of them is anticipated in the year 2001.In the iron and steel industry, restructuring has been rigorously under way for the consolidation of production equipment and facilities as a measure to cope with the present high value of the yen agaist other currencies. The socioeconomic situation both outside and inside Japan will continue to change, but the annual crude steel production and the ratio of converter steel to electric-furnace steel produced can be expected to remain generally the same at the beginning of the 21st century as today. Energy consumption by the iron and steel industry then will be about the same as forecast for the year 2000 in the “Energy Vision of The Iron and Steel Industry for The 21st Century” published in the autumn of 1986 by the Japan Iron & Steel Federation, which is some 8% of the nation' s energy consumption, a decrease of about 4% from the current level.As the smelting reduction process can be operated in such a way as to supply out of the system large volumes of by-product gas produced from steam coal and low quality coal used in the prosess, the iron and steel industry, if all regulations allow, can become an energy-upply industry and thus play a role pertinent to the coming multiple energies era.

Crisis in Soviet Industry? An Examination of the Soviet Steel Industry in the 1980s

The ferrous metallurgy industry is at present one of the main obstacles to Mikhail Gorbachev's plans to attain the acceleration of growth in Soviet industry in 1986-90. If one takes four major sectors of this industry and examines the extent of plan fulfillment during the Eleventh FiveYear Plan (1981-85), the dilemma becomes apparent. Total output in millions of tons, with the original planned totals in parentheses, was as follows: crude steel, 155 (169); rolled steel products, 108 (118); steel pipe, 19.3 (21.9); and iron ore, 248 (275). Even the revised annual plan for the USSR Ministry of Ferrous Metallurgy in 1985 was not fulfilled.1 The importance of this branch of heavy industry to the Soviet economy can hardly be overemphasized. Iron and steel have remained the predominant building materials for both machine-building and construction in the Soviet Union, and ferrous metallurgy is used as the foundation for the majority of branches of the national economy. Its current malaise, then, is a matter of the utmost concern to the authorities, who have long since left behind the Stalinist era of all-out development of heavy industry. In fact, between 1940 and 1975, growth in output was spectacular. Output of crude steel, for example, stood at 18.3 million tons in 1940; 65.3 million tons in 1960, and 98.7 million tons in 1975. The average annual increase in output between 1960 and 1970 was 17.7%. Yet it fell to 12.8% in the 'seventies, and stands at less than 1% thus far in the 1980s.2 Information given by the Soviet Central Statistical Administration reveals that the Soviets have struggled to meet planned targets in ferrous metallurgy for the past decade. Western analysts have commented on a number of occasions that steel output has stagnated, but this is only a partial truth. What has happened is that output in the Ukrainian SSR has stagnated, and acted as a drag on the industry elsewhere. It should be recalled that the Ukraine is responsible for more than 37% of Soviet crude steel production, 36% of rolled ferrous metals, 43% of cast iron, and about

Works closure at British steel and the nature of the state

As one expression of continuing attempts to resolve the deep overproduction crisis in the European steel industry, a crisis evident since the mid1970s, there have been a number of substantial reductions in crude steel production capacity entailing a series of works closures in areas previously dependent upon the industry as the main source of employment. In many such threatened localities anti-closure campaigns have developed on a variety of class bases and spatial foundations. In particular, the current analysis focuses on three such campaigns within the British Steel Corporation (BSC): the unsuccessful attempt to prevent the closure of Consett steelworks, County Durham in 1980; the (to-date) successful defence of the Ravenscraig works in Scotland in 1982; and the more limited defence of the South Teesside works in 1982/1983. These campaigns, it is argued, must be considered not as a reaction to a pre-given decision by capital, but rather as one moment in a far broader restructuring process, entailing consideration of the constitution of class relations properly specified with respect to place. This in turn is of crucial significance for a Marxist analysis of the state in that whereas such an analysis is by definition grounded in the class nature of contemporary capitalist society, it is necessary to consider also from the outset the significance of place in the determination of the nature of the state. This is demonstrated through the analysis of particular campaigns. In particular, through specifying the diversity of groupings around them, distinguished with regard both to place and to class, it is possible to consider the implications of such groupings for the possibility of interception of discourse within different levels of the state decision-making apparatus—an interception in turn of significance for the likely outcome of any such campaign.

Models for crude steel production in the United Kingdom

The application of Z-transform transfer function models to the identification of crude steel (blast furnace iron) production systems is considered. A feedback approach has been proposed, in that the desired output by the planners in the steel industry has been used to close the loop. A direct identification method has been developed and used to forecast the blast furnace iron production in the United Kingdom.

A Bayesian test of the product cycle hypothesis applied to Japanese crude steel production

Abstract It is postulated that the product cycle of crude steel production may be observed as a gradual shift in the time trend parameter in the family of the CES production functions. Quarterly data from 1957 to 1973 are used for the empirical test. Posterior pdf's for the join point as well as for the adjustment parameter are derived, and they indicate that Japanese crude steel production passed from the new to standardized product stage between 1968 and 1972. With the arrival of the standardized state it is noted that the industry has become less competitive.

Transport of Building Materials in North Moravia

North Moravia being the most industrial area in Czechoslovakia supplies 80 % of coal, 84 % of pig-iron, and 77 % of its crude steel production. There are large heavy engineering and chemical works. Apart from this, the area has the most extensive building construction of all other areas in Czechoslovakia, 22 % of the state investments being spent to cover its building costs although its population makes only 12 % of the state total. Such economic level claims an especially thick road transport by motor lorries and trucks. In this sphere traffic has increased by 32 % within the last 5 years, whereas on railways only by 6 %. Greates demands on roads are made by the transport of building materials, which represents approximately 3/4 of all transported load. The author followed more closely the problems of transport of gravel-sands and broken stone since their largest deposits occur at a distance of more than 100 km from Ostrava, the main centre of the area. The distribution and intensity of their transport is depicted in Figs. 1 and 2. The author suggests two possible ways of improvement. Firstly, more differentation of production in local cement works so that they could themselves supply and kind of cement, and secondly, to apply the ash waste of power plants for the production of artifical aggregate of concrete (ageoporit). At least one half of the total consumption could be covered in this way.

Present and Future Aspects of Coking Coal Supply for the Iron and Steel Industry

In accordance with the growing production of crude steel in this country which is anticipated to attain to 100 million ton within future several years, the unsteady state of coking coal supply and the increase in mining cost have become serious problems.This paper, reviewing the relation between the production of iron and steel and the demand and supply of coke in the world, deals with the demand and supply of coking coal in our country together with the supplying capacity of overseas coking coal.Under such conditions it is necessitated to promote the development of more advanced techniques for shortening the coke consumption as well as to secure steady importation of overseas coking coal.

福山製鉄所の建設と操業について

Construction of a giant iron works was planned by Nippon Kokan with a crude steel production of ten million tons as the final target, to cope with increasing competition in domestic and foreign marketsfor the future development of the steel industry of Japan. Another reason of this decision was the fact that the crude steel production at the three iron works in Tokyo-Yokohama area was limited to five million tons because of the local restrictions.Company policy for this construction was directed toward the adoption of largest and most highly automated facilities and a layout permitting the most rational transportation. An area of 7.26million m2 was selected from among many possible sites of construction within Japan at the coast of Fukuyama in compliance with this policy. Reclamation was launched in January 1962. The first period construction was completed in summer 1966 with the production of sheets as objective. The crude steel production has reached in June 1967 a level of two million tons. The second period construction isalready underway, and a production system comprising hot and cold rolled sheets and wide plates corresponding to a crude steel production of four million tons will be established at the beginning of 1968.

Progress of the dephosphorization of iron

In this paper, fuzzy modeling for the control of basic oxygen furnace (BOF) processes is proposed. BOF is a widely preferred and effective steel making method due to its higher productivity and considerably low production cost. Therefore, today almost 65% of the total crude steel production in the world is met by using the BOF method. Higher steel output at lower cost is one of the main objectives of modern steel making methods. In order to accomplish this objective, fuzzy modeling was employed in this study in order to control some variables related to the BOF process. Fuzzy modeling and control in BOF promise a solution to the strongly non-linear problems associated with the process, which have so far proven extremely difficult to be solved by conventional control methods. Data set was selected as inputs from the real empirical BOF data in an integrated steel plant based in Turkey. Although there were negligible deviations from the target values, most of the fuzzy results obtained using MATLAB-Fuzzy Logic Toolbox version 5.0 were found to be acceptable. As a result of the application of the proposed modeling, acceptable levels of compatibility were achieved compared to the empirical BOF data and targeted steel composition. The paper indicates how fuzzy logic would be effectively used for improved process control of BOF furnace in steel making industry.