| Abstract Scope |
Mass and energy balances, incorporating relevant reaction equilibria, constitute the first hurdle that any proposed process improvement – or a radically new process – must clear. Such balances are also the basis of figures of merit for process changes; the example that will be shown is the use of injectants for partial replacement of coke in blast furnace ironmaking. The relevant values are the oxygen-carrying capacity of the injectant, and the enthalpy change, for system boundaries at the tuyères and the wüstite reserve zone with the blast furnace. Process fundamentals also aid feature engineering in the analysis of large datasets: examples are fitting rate constants to steel refining kinetics (used to analyze the efficacy of ladle stirring), and relating the electricity consumption in electric arc furnace steelmaking to slag volume and the consumption of carbon and oxygen. |