Industrial perspective of digital twin development and applications for iron and steel processes

Abstract

As an emerging technology, digital twin receives higher adoption rate due to steadily growing maturity of IoT/cloud infrastructure and increased number of successful applications. This paper presents Hatch’s approach of developing a blast furnace digital twin. Combining real-time data with process expertise, the digital twin can predict furnace conditions, conduct scenario analysis and provide timely guidance to achieve stable and economic operation. Its benefits are illustrated by two industrial use cases: blast furnace thermal control and casting guidance. Our vision on future digital twin applications and strategies to remove multiple barriers for digital twin adoption are also discussed.