Modeling applied to the design of blast furnace control systems

Abstract

The production of pig iron in blast furnaces resists automatic control strategies due to the lack of knowledge about physical and chemical phenomena taking place inside the reactor. High dimensions lead to important dead times and lags. As a consequence it is very difficult to quantify control actions from actual process measurements. A simplified multizonal mathematical model has been proposed that allowed the description of a given blast furnace excluding hearth. Parameters underlying the model have been identified and, under appropriate assumptions, temperature and composition profiles have been established. The analysis of model predictions has been illustrated with steady-state responses to typical control actions.