A model-based approach to blast furnace ironmaking

Mississauga, Canada — Hatch is delighted to announce the publication of a new technical reference book, Blast Furnace Ironmaking: Analysis, Control and Optimization, authored by experts in our iron and steel business. The book provides a new industry standard detailing a fundamental approach to blast furnace mass and energy balance models—an important update to the approach first published in The Iron Blast Furnace; Theory and Practice (1979), a standard reference for the last forty years for blast furnace engineers.

Blast Furnace Ironmaking: Analysis, Control and Optimization helps other engineers produce meaningful models that describe the commercial scale blast furnace process. It uses a fundamental first-principles approach to prepare a blast furnace mass and energy balance in Microsoft Excel™ and includes practical information and engineering fundamentals that allow for more comprehensive assessments than the “rules of thumb” currently used by the industry.

“Our objective in writing the book was to provide the fundamental understanding to prepare a blast furnace model that could be used by the industry but also be a tool to teach engineers about this complex metallurgical process,” said Ian Cameron, author and Hatch’s principal metallurgist, ferrous for the pyrometallurgy sector practice. “The concepts presented are valuable as blast furnace engineers develop Industry 4.0 blending fundamental knowledge with artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies.”

The book took more than five years to author and involved visiting more than twenty blast furnace sites throughout the United States, Canada, France, Brazil, Australia, Russia, Japan, China, the Netherlands, and Argentina as part of the book’s development.

“The beauty of this book is that it takes a complex system and breaks it down into its constituents. We effectively present the model from its roots and it teaches people to build similar models. If something changes in ten or twenty years, readers should—through this book—be able to change the model and layer it to be specific about what is going on in the reader’s blast furnace, as the fundamental knowledge is there,” said Kyle Lefebvre, author and process engineer in Hatch’s pyrometallurgy sector practice.

Hatch has deep knowledge and experience regarding all aspects of blast furnace design and operation. Whether it be expertise in building or relining a blast furnace, optimizing the fuel rate and productivity, or implementing Industry 4.0 technologies, Hatch helps our clients maintain a competitive advantage in their iron and steel business. Involvement in initiatives like this is just one of the ways Hatch is working to bring positive change to producers of the world’s most commonly used metal—steel.

To read more about our iron and steel expertise, visit our website, here.

For more information and/or to purchase a copy of the book, click here.

Join us at the AISTech conference at Booth #1851 for a chance to win a signed copy of the book. More information about the conference is as follows. click here. 

For more information, please contact:

Lindsay Janca
Global Director, Public Relations
Tel: +1 905 403 4199
Email: media@hatch.com

About Hatch

Whatever our clients envision, our engineers can design and build. With over six decades of business and technical experience in the mining, energy, and infrastructure sectors, we know your business and understand that your challenges are changing rapidly. We respond quickly with solutions that are smarter, more efficient and innovative. We draw upon our 9,000 staff with experience in over 150 countries to challenge the status quo and create positive change for our clients, our employees, and the communities we serve.

Find out more on www.hatch.com.