Integrated Steel Plant
Maximize the profit of your steel plant by optimizing your strategic decisions
COSTS & REVENUES
PRODUCTIVITY
PHYSICS
QUALITY
ENERGY
ENVIRONMENT
INTEGRATE YOUR DECISIONS ACROSS THE WHOLE PROCESS CHAIN MIXING TECHNICAL AND ECONOMIC CONCEPTS THROUGH NONLINEAR OPTIMIZATION.
RAW MATERIAL PURCHASE
OPTIMAL PRODUCTION LEVEL
PROFITABILITY OF PRODUCTS
Correlation of raw material, energy requirement, plant productivity, final products quality, impact on the environment.
Trade-off Quality and Price
Right price to pay for a material
Minimal production cost
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Economic Optimal Production Level
Balance of the Marginal Cost and the Marginal Revenue
Presents the consumption and production levels to achieve the objective: Profit Maximization
Graphical analysis - each step is explained in the curves
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Production cost X Selling price
It considers bottlenecks, chemical and energy balances and operating costs.
The solution fits in the plant capacity
Optimized product portfolio to achieve the highest profit
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PROCESS OPTIMIZATION
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Trade-off between cost and productivity/quality
List of process variables that are potential impactors
Historical production data are used to calibrate the value of each impact
INVESTMENT ASSESSMENT
Return on Investment (ROI)
The horizon of time can be set accordingly to a consistent period with prevision of costs and prices
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Adapt the scope
to your reality
We know that each plant is unique.
Our model is adaptable according to your needs.
Coke Plant
The productivity model is based on the actual design of the coke batteries, together with the concepts of charging and coking time.
The mass balance considers the percentage of volatile matters in the blend to determine the production of coke and COG.
The thermal balance determines a specific energy requirement depending on blend properties (moisture, density, etc.).
The chemical balance sets the right desulfurization rate based on the type of coals.
The quality model considers any index (strength, reactivity, etc.) and is based on both the blend properties and process settings (coking temperature, coking time, density, etc.).
The cost model combines the consumption of material, gas and electricity with their own purchase price, as well as fixed and variable costs of operation.
Sinter Plant
The productivity model is based on the actual surface of the sinter strands, on the maintenance time and on a variable productivity that depends on the blend (amount of lime, granulometry of sinter feed, etc.).
The mass balance considers the consumption of materials, the chemical reactions and the FeO content of sinter.
The thermal balance determines a specific energy requirement depending on blend properties (moisture, consumption of scales, consumption of lime- or dolostone, etc.) and on the FeO content of sinter.
The chemical balance applies chemical yields to the blend to get the final composition of sinter.
The quality model considers any index (strength, reducibility, etc.) and is based on both the sinter composition and process settings (basicity, slag volume, bed height, etc.)
The cost model combines the consumption of material, gas and electricity with their own purchase price, as well as fixed and variable costs of operation.
Blast Furnace
The productivity model is based on the actual inner volume of the furnaces, on the maintenance time and on a variable productivity that depends on the charge (ratio of lump/sinter/pellet, coke quality, sinter quality, amount of fines, slag volume, etc.).
The mass balance considers the consumption of materials, the chemical reactions and the loss in sludge/dust to determine the production of hot metal, slag and BFG.
The thermal balance determines a specific energy requirement depending on blend properties (slag volume, consumption of fluxes, hot metal temperature, etc.).
The chemical balance is different per element and considers: chemical yields; non-linear equilibriums between slag and hot metal (for Sulfur).
The cost model combines the consumption of material, gas and electricity with their own purchase price, as well as fixed and variable costs of operation.
Blowers, stoves and PCI units are modeled within the blast furnace model. We consider a capacity and a cost model (operating costs, electricity and gas consumption).
Converters
All variables are defined per crude steel grade group that aggregates, by similarity, crude steel grades into a few groups (usually less than 10).
The productivity model considers any potential bottleneck at the steel shop that interacts with the converter (scrap preparation, cranes, desulfurization or the converter on its own).
The mass balance considers the consumption of materials, the chemical reactions and the loss in sludge/dust to determine the production of crude steel, slag and LDG.
The thermal balance determines the ratio of hot metal/scraps
depending on the usage of fluxes, the temperature of hot metal, the Carbon and Silicon content of hot metal, the temperature of crude steel, etc.
The chemical balance is different per element and considers: chemical yields; non-linear equilibriums between slag and crude steel (for Sulfur, Phosphorus, Manganese); other relations (C-O product, Fe-C, etc.).
The cost model combines the consumption of material and electricity with their own purchase price, as well as fixed and variable costs of operation.
Electrical Arc Furnace
All variables are defined per crude steel grade group that aggregates, by similarity, crude steel grades into a few groups (usually less than 10).
The productivity model considers any potential bottleneck at the steel shop that interacts with the furnace (scrap preparation, cranes or the furnace on its own).
The mass balance considers the consumption of scraps, the chemical reactions and a loss to determine the production of crude steel.
The thermal balance determines the power-on time depending on the type of scraps and the temperature of crude steel.
The chemical balance considers all chemical reactions and determines the crude steel composition.
The cost model combines the consumption of material and electricity with their own purchase price, as well as fixed and variable costs of operation.
Secondary Refining
All variables are defined per steel grade group that aggregates, by similarity, steel grades into a few groups (usually less than 30).
The productivity model considers any main and alternative routes through all the refining stations.
The mass balance considers the consumption of ferroalloys (de-oxidation, heating, chemical refining), the chemical reactions and the losses to determine the production of steel and slag.
The chemical balance considers chemical yields per element.
The cost model combines the consumption of material and electricity with their own purchase price, as well as fixed and variable costs of operation.
Casting
The productivity model is based on the actual design of the casting machines (and potential restriction per grade or per format).
The mass balance considers losses to determine the production of casted steel.
The cost model combines the consumption of gas and electricity with their own purchase price, as well as fixed and variable costs of operation.
Mill
All variables are defined per product group that aggregates, by similarity, products into groups (usually less than 200).
The productivity model considers any main and alternative routes through all the milling facilities with a productivity value per product.
The mass balance considers a metallic yield to determine the final production.
The cost model combines the consumption of gas and electricity with their own purchase price, as well as fixed and variable costs of operation.
Power Plant
The productivity model is based on the actual installed capacity and on a maintenance time.
The flows of each gas are balanced globally in the plant, between: Consumption by the processes; Losses; and Electricity production.
The flows of electricity are balanced globally in the plant, between: Production of electricity from the gases; Consumption by the processes; Purchase of electricity (from the grip); Sales of electricity (to the grid – only if the rest of the balance is positive)
Not found your process above?
No worries!
This model equivalenty applies to all reduction processes, e.g. Midrex®, Corex®, Finex®