Hearth Temperature Control at USS Blast Furnace No. 14
(Room 404)
06 May 19
10:30 AM
-
11:00 AM
Speaker(s):
Brian Rogers, United States Steel Corporation; Todd Schrenk, United States Steel Corporation; Michael McCoy, United States Steel Corporation; Rishi Midha, Hatch Ltd.; Michael Bodley, Hatch Ltd.; Maher Al-Dojayli, Formerly of Hatch Ltd.; Kyle Chomyn, Hatch; Paul Towsey, Hatch Ltd.; Ian Cameron, Hatch; Jason Entwistle, United States Steel Corporation; Ralph Albanese, Process Engineer III, U. S. Steel - Gary Works; Du Lee, United States Steel Corporation; John Busser, Hatch; John G. Grindey , United States Steel Corporation; Yasser Ghobara, Hatch Ltd.; Mitren Sukhram, Hatch Ltd.
In 2016, 10 years after the hearth was installed, blast furnace No. 14 experienced rapid hearth wall temperature increases under the three tapholes. U. S. Steel and Hatch embarked on an exhaustive root-cause analysis of the hearth cooling system, force balance assessment and a process parameters review using big data advanced analytics. Various countermeasures were developed and implemented, including actions to promote floating of the deadman, improved leak detection methods, innovative temperature visualization techniques, and ilmenite point charging. Hearth temperature control improved, temperatures moderated and production was increased. Details of the approaches used and results will be presented.