According to foreign media, the US Department of Energy recently awarded $2 million to fund a study being led by O ‘Malley, a professor at Missouri University of Science and Technology. The research, titled “IDEAS for Intelligent Dynamic Electric Arc Furnace Consulting System to Improve Operating Efficiency of Electric Arc Furnaces,” aims to improve operating efficiency of electric arc furnaces and reduce carbon footprint.
Electric arc furnaces consume a lot of electricity to operate, and O ‘Malley and his team are looking for new ways to reduce their carbon footprint. They are working to install a new dynamic control system for the furnace and use a new sensor system to make the furnace operate more efficiently under changing conditions.
The study was tentatively divided into two phases: In the first phase, the team evaluated existing electric arc furnace production systems at two partners, Great River Steel Company in Osceola, Arkansas, and
Birmingham Commercial Metals Company (CMC) in Alabama, and developed a framework for further research. During this phase, the research team is required to perform extensive data analysis of the process, integrate existing control modules, design new control modules, and develop and test new fiber optic sensing technology for electric arc furnace production in the laboratory.
In the second phase, the new fiber-optic sensing technology will be tested in the plant along with a new control module, directed energy input and a model of the furnace slag characteristics. The new fiber optic sensing technology will provide a whole new set of tools for eAF optimization, enabling better real-time inspection of the condition of the eAF and the impact of operating variables on the process to provide feedback to the operator, improve energy efficiency and production, and reduce costs.
Other partners involved in the study include Nucor Steel and Gerdau.