Optimizing Blast Furnace Stoves With Fast Stoichiometric Combustion Control
(Room 320)
16 May 22
3:00 PM
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3:30 PM
Blast furnace stoves combustion is optimized by implementing a stoichiometric combustion control. Required is a very fast laser analyzer across the stove flue gas to the stack and a control that holds the air-to-fuel ratio precisely at the perfect relationship at all firing conditions. The analyzer uses a quantum cascade laser (QCL), which uniquely measures in the mid-inferred wavelengths. CO is the process variable with its fundamental absorption wavelength in the mid-inferred. This paper discusses the QCL analyzer, the control strategy and the application of the technology installed at Cleveland-Cliffs' blast furnace #4 at Indiana Harbor.