Title

BLAST FURNACE OPERATION IMPROVEMENT USING THE VAIRON AUTOMATION SYSTEM PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE

BLAST FURNACE OPERATION IMPROVEMENT USING THE VAIRON AUTOMATION SYSTEM PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE

Authorship

SCHÜRZ, BERNHARD; BETTINGER, DIETER; STOHL, KLAUS

SCHÜRZ, BERNHARD

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BETTINGER, DIETER

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STOHL, KLAUS

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DOI

10.5151/2594-357x-34Red-49-58

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Abstract

The task of increasing the profit margin in the steel industry is a permanent challenge for steel producers worldwide. Prices for raw materials and reducing agents are the most important factors for hot metal costs. These prices have been going up dramatically in the recent past. Therefore, especially hot metal production has been forced to reduce production costs. A powerful solution package for automated and optimized blast furnace operation was jointly developed by voestalpine Stahl GmbH and VOEST-ALPINE Industrieanlagenbau (VAI), both of Linz, Austria. Marketed under the trade name of VAiron these systems are now in operation at many blast furnaces worldwide showing excellent results immediately after installation. VAiron is based on advanced process models, artificial intelligence, a closed-loop expert system and a wide collection state-of-the-art software applications. The paper describes the highlights of the blast furnace optimization package and will discuss operational results at such distinct locations as voestalpine Linz/Austria, Iscor Newcastle/South Africa and ISPAT Inland/East Chicago, USA.

The task of increasing the profit margin in the steel industry is a permanent challenge for steel producers worldwide. Prices for raw materials and reducing agents are the most important factors for hot metal costs. These prices have been going up dramatically in the recent past. Therefore, especially hot metal production has been forced to reduce production costs. A powerful solution package for automated and optimized blast furnace operation was jointly developed by voestalpine Stahl GmbH and VOEST-ALPINE Industrieanlagenbau (VAI), both of Linz, Austria. Marketed under the trade name of VAiron these systems are now in operation at many blast furnaces worldwide showing excellent results immediately after installation. VAiron is based on advanced process models, artificial intelligence, a closed-loop expert system and a wide collection state-of-the-art software applications. The paper describes the highlights of the blast furnace optimization package and will discuss operational results at such distinct locations as voestalpine Linz/Austria, Iscor Newcastle/South Africa and ISPAT Inland/East Chicago, USA.

Keywords

Blast furnace automation, closed loop expert system, blast furnace cost savings

Blast furnace automation, closed loop expert system, blast furnace cost savings