EUROPEAN STEEL TECHNOLOGY AND APPLICATION DAYS 2017 - ESTAD 2017

The process of liquid steelmaking is characterised by a large throughput of resources and energy. It is performed along a chain of different batch processes performed consisting of several aggregates for heating and metallurgical refining of the liquid steel melt. The objective of the production process is to deliver liquid steel melts with narrow quality targets regarding temperature and chemical composition at a predefined time to the continuous casting plant. Within the research project RECOBA, which is funded in the SPIRE part of the HORIZON 2020 research programme, the real-time control of the batch process chain for liquid steelmaking is enhanced with focus on the steel melt temperature by application of novel sensor techniques, predictive process models as well as innovative process control and optimization tools. Fibre optical temperature sensors with an extremely short response time, high precision and continuous operation for several minutes allow an in-line measurement of the liquid steel temperature. Detailed process models which consider the interactions and interdependencies between the different batch processes as well as the thermal conditions of steel ladles and degassing vessels allow an accurate real-time monitoring and prediction of steel temperature evolution along the whole batch process chain of liquid steelmaking. For process optimization and control the process models are combined with innovative control tools as non-linear state estimation, Model Predictive Control and iterative learning techniques, to ensure an energy and resource efficient achievement of the narrow target temperature window at the end of the batch process chain. The sensor development is performed by MINKON Poland with support of VDEh-Betriebsforschungsinstitut, which is also responsible for the development and application of process models as well as control techniques. The sensors, process models and control concepts are developed with the support of thyssenkrupp Steel Europe.