Metallurgist, Vol. 47, Nos.

1–2, 2003

ENERGY SAVING

AUTOMATION AND ENERGY CONSERVATION

IN METALLURGY

A. M. Belen’kii

The international scientific-technical conference “Automated Furnaces and Energy-Saving Technologies in

Metallurgy” is becoming a tradition at the Moscow State Institute of Steel and Alloys (MISiS). The second such con-
ference was held on Dec. 3–5 of last year and involved the participation of more than 200 organizations from 12
nations: Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldavia, Kazakhstan, Tadzhikistan, Uzbekistan, Austria, Germany, Latvia,
Estonia, and France. Nearly all of the largest metallurgical plants were represented: the MMK (Magnitogorsk
Metallurgical Combine), NLMK (Novolipetsk Metallurgical Combine), Severstal’, NTMK (Nizhniy Tagil
Metallurgical Combine), NOSTA (Orsk-Khalilovo Metallurgical Combine), Zapsib (West Siberian Metallurgical
Plant), Izhstal’, Krivorozhstal’, Il’ich Mariupol’ Metallurgical Combine, ISPAT-Karmet, Leninabad Rare Metals
Combine, Almalyk Mining-Metallurgical Combine, and the Volgograd, Chusovoi, Omutninsk, Vyska, Moldavian, and
Belarus metallurgical plants. Delegates from several machine plants were also in attendance – the Ural Railcar Plant,
NKMZ (Novokramatorsk Machine Plant), the Tula factory Stamp, etc.
Four sections met during the conference: “Energy-Saving Technologies in Refining Furnaces,” “Energy
Conservation in Heating and Heat-Treatment Furnaces in Metallurgy and Machine-Building,” “Automating the Control
of Production Processes,” and “Environmental and Energy Problems in the Metallurgical Industry.” A total of 135
papers were presented (25 of them at the plenary sessions) on improving the operation of metallurgical furnaces –
reducing energy costs, increasing service life, improving control over furnace operation, and alleviating pollution.
In the report given by M. M. Solov’ev (State Inspectorate for Industrial Power Engineering and Power-Engineering
Supervision (under the Russian Energy Ministry)), it was noted that energy use in the Russian economy has increased 22%
over the 1990 level and is now 3–3.5 times greater than the analogous index in Europe and the U.S. The 1998–2000 federal
targeted program (FTP) “Energy Conservation in Russia” had set 60 million tons comparison fuel as the goal for saving ener-
gy and fuel resources (EFR). However, no more than 25 million tons were saved, which to a significant extent is due to the
inadequate incentives that were put in place. The FTP for the period 2002–2010, entitled “An Energy-Efficient Economy,”
has the main goals of saving 360–430 million tons comparison fuel and reducing the energy content of the GNP by 11.9%.
Among the highest priorities in Russia’s long-term energy policy are making more efficient use of EFR and creat-
ing the conditions necessary for the economy to be able to adopt an energy-conservation mode of growth. As a result, the
need for EFR should be reduced by more than 1.4 trillion tons of comparison fuel by 2020.
The presentation given by M. Yu. Dubinskii (MISiS) was entitled “The Energy Strategy of Russia to 2020”
(ÉS-2020). In accordance with this strategy, the unit energy content of the GNP should decrease by a factor of 1.5 during
2000–2010 and by a factor of 1.4 during 2011–2020. The contribution of metallurgy to overall industrial output is predict-
ed to become nearly half of what it is today (going from 19.1 to 10.2%), and this should be accompanied by an almost
two-fold increase in machine construction and metal-working operations (from 18.6 to 36.4%). Plans have been made to fur-
ther integrate power plants with the main customers for that power. This includes the creation of large, independent, verti-
cally integrated companies that will be engaged in power generation, mining, metallurgy, and machine-building. Such com-

Moscow State Institute of Steel and Alloys (MISiS). Translated from Metallurg, No. 2, pp. 31–34, February, 2003.

0026-0894/03/0102-0055$25.00 ©2003 Plenum Publishing Corporation 55

panies are the best option for the growth of domestic metallurgy and are optimum from the standpoint of efficiency, energy
use, and environmental safety.
As is known, furnaces – which are the foundation of metallurgy – are also the most energy-intensive components of
the metallurgical production process. Thus, methods that can be used to make furnace equipment more energy efficient have
been formulated as part of the strategy referred to above. There are also plans to develop a “Growth Strategy for Russian
Metallurgy to the Year 2020.”
G. V. Nikiforov – Chief Power Engineer at the MMK – discussed the results of a program that was created to max-
imize energy efficiency and was implemented at the combine during 1997–2001. Among the measures in the program:
• set priorities in energy conservation and choose technologies, operating regimes, and types of equipment that will
reduce energy costs;
• objectively assess the necessary costs and the methods of energy conservation that have not yet been used;
• continually monitor and optimally control energy use with allowance for changes in production conditions;
• keep the parameters of the production process at their optimum levels;
• analyze and predict the effects that certain technical-economic situations and management decisions will have on
energy costs.
The MMK’s successes in making the operation of production equipment and power-generation facilities more efficient
has made it a leader in Russian metallurgy. For example, the combine has reduced production costs by 13.6% and has thus also
made its products more competitive; it has built enough generation capacity to supply 90–96% of its needs (and this power costs
2.5 times less than power bought from outside sources); the combine’s energy supply has been made independent of RAO EÉS
Russii and has become safer and more reliable; the unit consumption of natural gas has been reduced 18%; unit energy costs
for production have been cut from 8.23 to 6.65 Gcal/ton steel, which means that the combine is now at the same level as the
leading foreign metallurgical plants (the corresponding unit energy costs are 6.9 Gcal/ton in the U.S., 6.1 Gcal/ton in the EU,
and 5.6 Gcal/ton in Japan). The environmental situation in the region has also been improved significantly.
The report given by A. M. Belen’kii, G. N. Krucher, R. L. Shatalov, and A. I. Popova (MISiS, the Institute
Tsvetmetobrabotka) was devoted to energy conservation in nonferrous metallurgy. It was shown that the potential for ener-
gy conservation in nonferrous metallurgy is great – the indices obtained for the unit consumption of raw materials and
semifinished products when domestic technologies and furnaces are used are 1.2–1.6 times higher than the analogous foreign
values. The report included energy-saving measures employed by foreign and domestic companies to improve production
efficiency: organizational and technological measures, optimization of the operation of auxiliary and production equipment,
and the use of information technologies.
A. A. Minaev, E. V. Gaiduk, E. N. Smirnov, and M. V. Grigor’ev (Donetsk Scientific-Technical College and the
company Vizavi) discussed work done on reducing the amount of energy used in metallurgical production in Ukraine.
Ukraine is the seventh largest producer of steel in the world, having made 33.5 million tons in 2001. The trend during the
last five years has been for energy costs to increase per unit price of exportable product. At the same time, plants are also
modernizing their equipment and introducing modern furnaces. For example, plans are being made to decommission 14 OH
furnaces with a total capacity of 4,810,000 tons/yr. This will help make the product more competitive by lowering the ener-
gy content of the production process in the “steel – rolled product” part of the manufacturing cycle.
The presentation given by N. P. Lyakishev and Yu. V. Tsvetkov (A. A. Baikov Institute of Metallurgy, of the
Russian Academy of Sciences) proposed a promising alternative to traditional technologies which is based on the creation of
an environmentally clean energy-production complex. The complex is to consist of a unit devoted to the production of a
reducing gas and gaseous fuel and another unit that will generate power and serve metallurgical functions (the energy and
material flows will be combined). The complex will make extensive use of plasma technology in a number of its components
and chemical-technological conversions. Emissions will be reduced not only by replacing solid fuel with hydrogen-bearing
gases obtained by the plasmothermal gasification of power-plant coal, but also by using pure hydrogen as a reducing agent.
An analysis of the plans showed that the proposed design has several energy-related advantages over the conventional
blast-furnace/converter process for making steel, as well as over a number of direct-reduction processes that are either in
development or are already in use.

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 Described below are the main proposals made by the conferees for improving the efficiency of metallurgical pro-
duction operations – particularly the main production processes and equipment.
Sintering and Blast-Furnace Smelting. An analysis was made of energy consumption in sinter production and the
potential use of secondary energy resources was evaluated; among the proposed energy conservation measures were aerody-
namic methods of speeding up the production of agglomerated iron ore, the use of metallized technogenic wastes and oxygen
in ore metallization operations, and the use of special computer programs to calculate the gasdynamics of sintering machines.
A blast-furnace-centered approach to managing energy use in metallurgy was formulated by some of the researchers
who attended the conference. The conferees examined different alternatives for saving energy in blast-furnace smelting: sta-
bilizing the thermal state of the furnace; the use of a new design of shaft on furnaces of large volume; increasing the ser-
vice life of blast furnaces with the formation of a slag crust; making the combustion process in the stoves more stable; using
devices to continuously control the tap; injecting coke-oven gas into the hearth; using a “hybrid” agglomerated raw materi-
al; using information on heat losses in the working space of the furnace.
Steelmaking. The following were proposed: an energy-saving technology for oxygen-converter steelmaking based
on the use of the outgoing gas; a converter unit employing the combined injection of preheated gases; prospective designs
of oxygen lances for converters; gas–oxygen burners for a high-rate electric steelmaking operation; measures to improve the
efficiency of arc steelmaking furnaces, including use of the heat of the fumes; new small dc arc furnaces for refining ferrous
and nonferrous metals; plasma preheating – an energy-saving technology for the circulation vacuum degassing of steel; mea-
sures to intesify refining; reducing the oxidation loss of metal during steelmaking in arc furnaces by lowering the rate of
evaporation; treating steel in the ladle with inert gas; an energy-saving technology for refining metals in crucible-type induc-
tion furnaces with the use of two-frequency electromagnetic fields; measures to improve the operation of open-hearth (OH)
furnaces and save energy in OH steelmaking; an energy-saving regime that uses pulsative fuel combustion to dry and pre-
heat steel-pouring ladles; an efficient technological-energy regime for out-of-furnace treatment of steel in ladle-furnace units;
optimum regimes and systems for the secondary cooling of continuous-cast slabs of high-strength tube steels on curvilinear
and vertical continuous casters, etc.
Results were presented from studies conducted in the following areas: dust deposition during the injection of metal
with oxygen in converters; hydrodynamics and heat and mass transfer in side-injected fluidized-bed furnaces; intensifica-
tion of melt mixing processes in the bath of dc furnaces; optimum parameters for ESR with rotation of the consumable elec-
trode; the potential for improving the thermal efficiency of electroslag remelting; delayed argon injection in OH furnaces
operated by the scrap-ore process.
Results were also presented from an analysis of the efficiency of converter operation done with secondary combus-
tion of the CO in the flue gases. A computer modeling was performed of the melting of the metal charge in arc furnaces and
the efficiency of environmentally clean steelmaking processes.
Heating Furnaces in Metallurgy and Machine-Building. The following were examined: the main problems
encountered in making the heating furnaces used with rolling mills more efficient; the conditions under which natural gas
can be replaced by blast-furnace gas in heating furnaces; aspects of choosing efficient regimes for heating metal in
multi-zone continuous furnaces; aspects of the use of induction heating furnaces in the metallurgical industry.
The following were proposed: energy-saving methods of heating metal through the use of jets and flames; a design
of heating furnace with a regenerative heating system; an integrated method of monitoring the operation of continuous heat-
ing furnaces on the basis of independent microprocessor-based systems (“black box”); practicable temperature regimes for
heating metal.
Heat-Treatment Furnaces in Metallurgy and Machine-Building. Specialists in this area analyzed the major trends
in research being done to improve furnaces for heat-treating steel strip – bell-type and conveyor-type furnaces. Energy-saving
thermal and temperature regimes have been developed for heat-treating the work rolls and backup rolls of strip mills.
The following subjects were examined: the induction heating of steel strip in hot-galvanizing lines; methods of
recirculating furnace gases with the use of air-jet injectors, built-in fans, and other types of equipment; technological aspects
of increasing the productivity of conveyor-type furnaces used for the continuous hot-galvanizing of wire, the main goal being
to ensure the production of metal of the specified quality; results of full-scale tests of different types and models of furnaces.

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 The following were proposed: high-speed burners with a flame having controllable parameters; an automated sys-
tem to ignite the flame and check for its continued presence; a new generation of environmentally clean radiation tubes;
energy- and material-saving resistance furnaces; a combination of jet (jet-flame) heating and high-rate radiant heating; inten-
sification of heat exchange in bell-type furnaces by altering the gasdynamic circulation regime inside the hood. It was point-
ed out that it will be necessary to develop and introduce domestically produced bell-type hydrogen furnaces for the bright
annealing of transformer steel, in addition to universal heat-treatment furnaces (reverberatory furnaces) that will be able to
solve a wide range of heat-treatment problems.
Refractory Materials. The following were recommended: the production and metallurgical use of expanded per-
lite, fibrous basalt-based materials, high-temperature heat-insulating materials based on ceramic fibers, light-weight ener-
gy-saving fibrous materials, and new refractory CBC materials and coatings with enhanced surface properties; the use of
products of silicon carbide (hoods, rollers, thermcouple jackets, nozzles); the use of gas-thermal coatings, to improve the
durability and reflectivity of refractory linings.
The following were examined: the feasibility of replacing the traditional brick lining of heat-treatment furnaces with
a lining made of ceramic fibers (ShVP, MKRF, etc.); the use of basalt-based thermal insulation with an average density up
to 160 kg/m3; optimization of the conditions for the formation of basalt fibers in bath-type furnaces.
A technical-economic evaluation was made of the use of thermal insulation made of asbestos and ultra-thin basalt
fibers in furnace linings.
Mathematical Modeling of Heat- and Mass-Transfer Processes. The following were done: modeling of ther-
mal and physicochemical processes in coke-oven batteries; numerical studies of the thermal stresses in the refractory block
of a fuel-oxygen lance used for co-injection of materials through the bottom of oxygen converters; mathematical modeling
of the use of different types of electrostatic precipitators to remove fine particles from process gases and from the air
exhausted from furnaces.
The following were developed: mathematical models of the optimum distribution of fuel-energy resources in
blast-furnace smelting; physicochemical models of processes in the out-of-furnace treatment of steel; a model of pre-recrys-
tallization processes in a melt; a model optimizing the conditions for the solidification of continuous-cast semifinished prod-
ucts; a model for calculating the average temperature of the metal in high-power arc furnaces; an algorithm for selecting
coolants to be used on a unit designed for out-of-furnace treatment of steel; a numerical-analytical method of calculating the
heating of turbine blades; a method of calculating the cooling of bars of ball-bearing steel; software for modeling the oper-
ation of induction heaters. The following were analyzed: prospects for the use of mathematical models of the tuyere hearth
in systems designed to monitor the thermal state of blast furnaces; aspects of the calculation of heat exchange in furnaces
with a charge of complex geometry; the potential for improving the energy efficiency of continuous furnaces through math-
ematical modeling; the limitingly allowable radial gradients that develop in the heat treatment of large semifinished products
and optimization of the treatment regimes; problems commonly encountered in constructing mathematical models of elec-
trostatic precipitators.
New Processes and Furnaces. The following were examined: the LP process – a new energy-saving process for
making steel; a converter designed for liquid-phase reduction; stationary side-injected fluidized-bed furnaces – the univer-
sal refining furnaces of the future; DECM – a process for recyling metallurgical wastes; a hydroelectric pyrometallurgical
process for reducing oxides; cooling rollers for cooling elements for slag and ash melts; a combination refining unit for pro-
cessing copper-bearing sulfide ores; a unit designed to prolong the service life of elements of metal structures by exposing
them to high-power pulses.
Automated Monitoring Equipment. The following were proposed: a wide range of thermoelectric converters,
including cable-type converters with highly stable properties (the company Tesei); a system to indicate the level of liquid
smelting products in the hearth of a blast furnace and thermal state of the bottom part of the furnace; an instrument for con-
tinuously measuring the temperature of liquid steel during electric steelmaking; pyrometers, scanners, and thermal imaging
systems for temperature measurements in metallurgy (the company Tekkno); heat-resistant devices for television monitoring
of production processes (Rastr); thermoelectric instruments for real-time determination of the composition of pig iron and
steel and the rejection of defective products; control valves, check valves, and stop valves, as well as control-and-measuring

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instruments (Samson); instruments for real-time monitoring of the parameters of metal melts (Tekhnotsentrpribor); an
ÉMG-type gas analyzer for automatically controlling process regimes and monitoring the emissions of pyrometallurgical
equipment (Mettek); monitoring instruments that perform gas analysis (Énal and Sick AG); the mobile environmental lab-
oratory Kema for monitoring emissions; nondestructive instruments and methods for checking the physicochemical proper-
ties of refractories during their production and use.
Automatic Control Systems. The following were developed: the system Optimet-Énergiya for managing the ener-
gy resources of large metallurgical plants; an automatic-control-system (ACS) algorithm for blast-furnace smelting that uses
information on temperatures inside the furnace; a modern modular system designed to provide technical support for opera-
tional decisions made during periods of unstable blast-furnace operation and changing market conditions; a dynamic control
system for converter steelmaking that employs elements of structural analysis; an automatic system to control the supplies
of oxygen for large metallurgical plants; principles for designing ACSs on the basis of eSCape technology; an APC for coke
production; an integrated APC for steelmaking; an APC for the deoxidation and alloying of steel; an APC for making sili-
con-bearing alloys in ore-roasting furnaces; an APC for the complex “continuous furnace – universal stand;” a dispatching
system for steelmaking operations and a system for automating steelmaking in arc furnaces; a system to control the cooling
of two-layer cast-iron rolls on hot-rolling mills; a system to optimize control of the blowing of metal by a hot gas-powder
stream; an APC for normalizing tubes in roller-hearth heat treatment furnaces; standardized APCs for reverberatory fur-
naces; an automated system for power plants based on steam turbocompressors.
Environmental Problems. The following were proposed: a solution to the energy-environmental problems of met-
allurgical combines that involves coal gasification and the use of regenerator gas instead of natural gas; an index – “nomi-
nal pollution mass” – that accounts for both the mass of a pollutant and its hazardousness and is used to evaluate the signif-
icance of atmospheric emissions; methods for reducing emissions of greenhouse gases by the mining-metallurgical complex;
an energy-saving technology for recycling spent pickling solutions; an energy-saving, environmentally friendly technology
for processing bulk materials; a technology for recylcing lithium batteries and wastes from the production of single crystals
of langasite; efficient energy-saving regimes for mixing and gas distribution in lime kilns; an express method of selecting
absorbents based on activated charcoal for ridding gases of hydrogen sulfide; a system for cleaning waste water that employs
a combination of methods, including settling, sorption, filtration, flotation, electrocoagulation, and biological cleaning;
closed water-treatment systems designed for metallurgical combines as a source of “free” low-potential heat energy.
An assessment was made of the effect of the operations of metallurgical combines and their heating and power plant
on the environment; an energy-based approach was formulated to evaluate the efficiency of dust catchers and analyze ener-
gy-environmental problems of the technology used for obtaining metallic calcium; a study was made of a galvanic method
that employs a fluidized bed to clean waste water from chromizing operations; another study was performed to examine coro-
na discharges in weakly nonuniform electric fields; the energy costs of processing basalt were determined along with the
hazardous emissions this operation creates.
The main directions that should be taken to improve equipment for cleaning furnace gases were mapped out. Among
the solutions proposed was the use of porous metallic materials for filtering liquids and gases, the use of electrostatic pre-
cipitators for deep and ultra-deep gas cleaning, and speeding up the removal of fine particles from process gases and air in
electrostatic precipitators by using a pulsed feed of the dust-gas flow.
Auxiliary Equipment. The following were proposed: plate heat exchangers to speed up and efficiently cool fur-
nace elements (rollers, induction coils, thyristors, etc.), made by the firm Teplo-Kompleks; AntiCa++ units for the non-
chemical magnetic treatment of water in hot and cold water supply systems, in the cooling systems of blast furnaces, and in
turbines, compressors, and other equipment (the units are made by the company Mashimpeks); an energy-saving technolo-
gy for producing compressed air.
The transactions of the conference have been published in a volume containing more than 260 documents.
Interested parties can view materials from the conference in the Department of the Thermophysics and Ecology
of Metallurgical Production at the MISiS. They can also be seen in the institute’s scientific-technical training center
(tel. 230-46-10), which is organized around the theme “Energy-Saving Technologies in Metallurgy.”

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