Model for economic optimization of iron production in the blast furnace

A method for economic optimization of ironmaking in the blast furnace has been developed. Values for some of the most central operational variables of the furnace were generated by a factorial plan, and were used as inputs to a first-principles model that estimated important performance variables of the process. On the basis of these data a linear process model was developed and subsequently used for minimizing the hot metal production costs. The optimization task was formulated as a mixed integer linear programming problem and was solved by a spreadsheet program. The performance of the model is illustrated by examples, where the specific hot metal production cost is minimized under realistic process constraints. The sensitivity of the model to changes in the constraints or in the price structure is also demonstrated.