Burn-through point modelization in sintering process

Sinter is the most important component of the blast furnace. At the moment, sintering process is the most widespread method to agglomerate the iron ore. In Asturias ArcelorMittal works as in most industrial plants, this is usually carried out in a Dwight-Lloyd machine where iron ore is sintered after a thermal treatment process. This is a very complex process since there exist lots of chemical reactions occurring and it is really difficult to know what is happening within the sinter bed. Process temperature is an excellent sign of the behaviour of the sintering process. Burn-through point determination is essential to stabilize the process and to improve both quality and productivity. In this paper, a mathematical model is developed in order to obtain a wind boxes temperature profile in industrial sintering processes. Thus, determination of the burn-through point position and temperature is estimated. Furthermore, computer simulations are carried out and compared with the real-time experiments. Finally, a control loop is suggested to maintain the burn-through point in the desired prosition. In this sense, strand speed and consumption of solid fuel are used as control variables.