Causality Diagram-based Scheduling Approach for Blast Furnace Gas System

Rational use of blast furnace gas(BFG) in steel industry can raise economic profit, save fossil energy resources and alleviate the environment pollution. In this paper, a causality diagram is established to describe the causal relationships among the decision objective and the variables of the scheduling process for the industrial system, based on which the total scheduling amount of the BFG system can be computed by using a causal fuzzy C-means(CFCM) clustering algorithm. In this algorithm,not only the distances among the historical samples but also the effects of different solutions on the gas tank level are considered.The scheduling solution can be determined based on the proposed causal probability of the causality diagram calculated by the total amount and the conditions of the adjustable units. The causal probability quantifies the impact of different allocation schemes of the total scheduling amount on the BFG system. An evaluation method is then proposed to evaluate the effectiveness of the scheduling solutions. The experiments by using the practical data coming from a steel plant in China indicate that the proposed approach can effectively improve the scheduling accuracy and reduce the gas diffusion.

Influence of blast furnace top gas composition and dust on HCl removal with low temperature Ca-based dechlorination agent

Using fixed-bed reaction method and changing the gas composition and dust content,the influence of blast furnace top gas composition and dust on HCl removal with low temperature Ca-based antichlor was studied.It was found that,when the content of CO2 in blast furnace top gas increased,the dechlorination efficiency was getting worse obviously;when the contents of CO and N2 increased,the dechlorination efficiency was getting better to a certain extent;when the content of H2 changed,the dechlorination efficiency got no significant change;as the content of dust increased,the dechlorination efficiency got better obviously when the content was less than 15 g/m3,but it would be got worse quickly when the content was more than 20 g/m3,and the best content was 15–20 g/m3;the suitable site of the process of dechlorination was after gravity dust collector and before bag dust collector.

Analysis of the quick corrosion of blast furnaces’gas pipes after the installation of dry-type de-dusting equipment and discussion about measures

Compared with the traditional wet-type de-dusting technology ,the dry-type de-dusting technology is considered to be environmentally friendly and energy-saving. However, the pipes carrying the de-dusted blast fiLrnace gas （BFG） tends to be corrosive more quickly and seriously. In order to investigate the reasons for the quick corrosion, the gas pipes and auxiliary bellows installed in Baosteel＇ s newly built BFG dry-type de-dusting system are studied. The corrosive properties of the condensed water, such as the pH value, are measured and analyzed. Meanwhile, various factors that may influence the corrosion rate of the pipes are studied by experiment. On the basis of the investigation and research, the causes of corrosion and leakage on the pipes are discovered. It is the process of dry de-dusting that is responsible ,to a large extent, for the quick corrosion of the pipes. The equipment of spray tower is introduced and its effects are then discussed. This tower is designed to eliminate most of chloridion and neutralized the acid by spraying the alkaline water to the dedusted gas flow. The practical operation shows that the tower helps to lessen the corrosiveness of the dry de-dusted gas effectively. The last part of this study analyzes the possible impacts of the dry-type de-dusting process of the newly built blast furnace （BF） on the main BFG piping which has been in the state of being corroded for years by estimating its potential corrosion rate, and some suggestions on maintenance are given as well.

SIMULATION OF GAS AND LIQUID TWO-PHASE FLOW THROUGH THE BLAST FURNACE DROPPING ZONE

A three-dimensional mathematical model,based on differential balances of mass and momentum,hasbeen developed to describe the two-phase flow of gas and liquid through the dropping zone of the blast fur-nace.Agreement between observed and calculated values verifies the validity of this model.On the basis of this model,various parameters for the surrounding of the dry zone of Blast FurnaceNo.I-BF of the Beijing Iron and Steel Company have been computed,from which a diagram for demar-cation of fluidization of coke and flooding of slag has been proposed.

Thermodynamic and experimental study of high-temperature roasting of blast furnace gas ash for recovery of metallic zinc and iron

A high-temperature reduction roasting method was used to achieve metallic iron and zinc recovery from blast furnace gas ash(BFA).The reduction processes for Zn-containing and Fe-containing oxides were analyzed in detail by using ther-modynamic equilibrium calculation and the principle of minimum free energy.The results showed that the main reaction in the system is the reduction of ZnFe_(2)_(4)and iron oxides.Over the full temperature range,iron oxides were more easily reduced than zinc oxides.Regardless of the amount of CO contained in the system,the reduction of ZnO to Zn was difficult to proceed below the boiling point(906℃)of Zn.When the reduction temperature is below 906℃,the reduction process of zinc ferrate was ZnFe_(2)_(4)→ZnO;when the reduction temperature is above 906℃,its reduction process becomed ZnFe_(2)_(4)→ZnO→Zn(g).The metallization and dezincification rates of the BFA gradually increased with increasing reaction temperature.As the C/O ratio increased,the metallization and dezincification rates first increased and then decreased.The effect of reduction time on BFA reduction was similar to that of reaction temperature.

Prediction of blast furnace gas generation based on data quality improvement strategy

The real-time energy flow data obtained in industrial production processes are usually of low quality.It is difficult to accurately predict the short-term energy flow profile by using these field data,which diminishes the effect of industrial big data and artificial intelligence in industrial energy system.The real-time data of blast furnace gas(BFG)generation collected in iron and steel sites are also of low quality.In order to tackle this problem,a three-stage data quality improvement strategy was proposed to predict the BFG generation.In the first stage,correlation principle was used to test the sample set.In the second stage,the original sample set was rectified and updated.In the third stage,Kalman filter was employed to eliminate the noise of the updated sample set.The method was verified by autoregressive integrated moving average model,back propagation neural network model and long short-term memory model.The results show that the prediction model based on the proposed three-stage data quality improvement method performs well.Long short-term memory model has the best prediction performance,with a mean absolute error of 17.85 m3/min,a mean absolute percentage error of 0.21%,and an R squared of 95.17%.

Study on the tradeoff between interpretability and precision in fuzzy modeling

An approach to identifying fuzzy models considering both interpretability and precision was proposed. Firstly, interpretability issues about fuzzy models were analyzed. Then, a heuristic strategy was used to select input variables by increasing the number of input variables, and the Gustafson-Kessel fuzzy clustering algorithm, combined with the least square method, was used to identify the fuzzy model. Subsequently, an interpretability measure was described by the product of the number of input variables and the number of rules, while precision was weighted by root mean square error, and the selection objective function concerning interpretability and precision was defined. Given the maximum and minimum number of input variables and rules, a set of fuzzy models was constructed. Finally, the optimal fuzzy model was selected by the objective function, and was optimized by a genetic algorithm to achieve a good tradeoff between interpretability and precision. The performance of the proposed method was illustrated by the well-known Box-Jenkins gas furnace benchmark; the results demonstrate its validity.

CFD Study of Ejector Flow Behavior in a Blast Furnace Gas Galvanizing Plant

In recent years, there has been a growing interest toward Blast Furnace Gas （BFG） as a low-grade energy source for industrial furnaces. This paper considers the revamping of a galvanic plant furnace converted to BFG from natural gas. In the design of the new system, the ejector on the exhaust line is a critical component. This paper studies the flow behavior of the ejector using a Computational Fluid Dynamics （CFD） analysis. The CFD model is based on a 3D representation of the ejector, using air and exhaust gases as working fluids. This paper is divided in three parts. In the first part, the galvanic plant used as case study is presented and discussed, in the second part the CFD approach is outlined, and in the third part the CFD approach is validated using experimental data and the numerical results are presented and discussed. Different Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes （RANS） turbulence models （k-to SST and k-e Realizable） are evaluated in terms of convergence capability and accuracy in predicting the pressure drop along the ejector. Suggestions for future optimization of the system are also provided.

Medium oxygen enriched blast furnace with top gas recycling strategy

Top gas recycling oxygen blast furnace（TGR-OBF）process is a promising ironmaking process.The biggest challenge of the TGR-OBF in operation is the dramatic decrease of top gas volume（per ton hot metal）,which once led to hanging-up and shutdowns in practice of the Toulachermet.In order to avoid this weakness,the strategy of medium oxygen blast furnace was presented.The maneuverable zone of the TGR-OBF was determined by the top gas volume,which should not be far from the data of the traditional blast furnace.The deviation of ±12.5% was used,and then the maneuverable blast oxygen content is from 0.30 to 0.47 according to the calculation.The flame temperature and the top gas volume have no much difference compared to those of the traditional blast furnace.The minimum carbon consumption of 357 kg per ton hot metal in the maneuverable zone occurs at the oxygen content of 0.30（fuel saving of 14%）.In the unsteady evolution,the N2 accumulation could approach nearly zero after the recycling reached 6 times.Thus far,some TGR-OBF industrial trials have been carried out in different countries,but the method of medium oxygen enriched TGR-OBF has not been implemented,because the accumulation of N2 was worried about.The presented strategy of medium oxygen enriched TGR-OBF is applicable and the strategy with good operational performance is strongly suggested as a forerunner of the full oxygen blast furnace.

Analysis of gas-solid flow and shaft-injected gas distribution in an oxygen blast furnace using a discrete element method and computational fluid dynamics coupled model

lronmaking using an oxygen blast furnace is an attractive approach for reducing energy consumption in the iron and steel industry. This paper presents a numerical study of gas-solid flow in an oxygen blast fur- nace by coupling the discrete element method with computational fluid dynamics. The model reliability was verified by previous experimental results. The influences of particle diameter, shaft tuyere size, and specific ratio （X） of shaft-injected gas （51G） flowrate to total gas flowrate on the SIC penetration behavior and pressure field in the furnace were investigated. The results showed that gas penetration capacity in the furnace gradually decreased as the particle diameter decreased from 100 to 40 mm. Decreasing particle diameter and increasing shaft tuyere size both slightly increased the SIG concentration near the furnace wall but decreased it at the furnace center. The value of X has a significant impact on the SIG distribution. According to the pressure fields obtained under different conditions, the key factor affecting SIG penetration depth is the pressure difference between the upper and lower levels of the shaft tuyere. If the pressure difference is small, the SIG can easily penetrate to the furnace center.

Vaporization reduction characteristics of aqueous ammonia solutions by the addition of ethylene glycol, glycerol and glycine to the CO_2 absorption process

Aqueous ammonia （NH3） solution can be used as an alternative absorption for the control of CO2 emitted from flue gases due to its high absorption capacity, fast absorption rate and low corrosion problem. The emission of CO2 from iron and steel plants requires much attention, as they are higher than those emitted from power plants at a single point source. In the present work, low concentration ammonia liquor, 9 wt.%, was used with various additives to obtain the kinetic properties using the blast furnace gas model. Although a solution with a high ammonia concentration enables high CO2 absorption efficiency, ammonium ions are lost as ammonia vapor, resulting in reduced CO2 absorption due to the lower concentration of the ammonia absorbent. To decrease the vaporization of ammonia, ethylene glycol, glycerol and glycine, which contain more than one hydroxyl radical, were chosen. The experiments were conducted at 313 K similar to the CO2 absorption conditions for the blast furnace gas model.