Ferroalloys are alloys in which one or more than two metal or nonmetal elements are fused together. It is not a metal material that can be used directly, but is mainly used as an intermediate raw material for deoxidizers and alloying agents in steel production. As a deoxidizer, it is added to the molten steel to combine with oxygen to form a deoxidized product, which can be quickly separated from the molten steel, reduce the oxygen content of the molten steel, and improve the performance of the steel; as an alloying agent, its addition can not only reduce the content of impurities in the molten steel, Moreover, the chemical composition of molten steel can be adjusted to make the steel have special properties. For example, steel with a Cr content of more than 13% is not easy to rust when used under high temperature and high humidity. It is widely used in medical knives, chemicals, petroleum, instruments, meters, In the fields of aviation, navigation, and tableware for daily use, ferroalloys are indispensable intermediate raw materials for steel production.
In recent years, the development of my country's iron and steel industry has not been ideal, which has directly caused the steel industry to reduce its purchase of ferroalloy products. At the same time, under the leadership of the steel recruitment model, the bargaining power of ferroalloy enterprises is weak, resulting in lower and lower ferroalloy transaction prices. The production and development of the ferroalloy industry has had a direct impact. In 2022, China's ferroalloy production will be 34.1 million tons, a year-on-year decrease of 1.9%.
The ferroalloy industry is an important part of my country's metallurgical industry. The main energy consumed by ferroalloy production is electricity and coke. The overall energy consumption of the ferroalloy industry is relatively large, and there is a large gap in energy efficiency among enterprises. In 2022, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and other four departments issued the "Guidelines for the Implementation of Energy Saving and Carbon Reduction Transformation and Upgrading of the Ferroalloy Industry". Zero, high-carbon ferrochromium energy-saving and carbon-reducing upgrading and transformation must achieve remarkable results. The industry's energy-saving and carbon-reducing effects are remarkable, and the ability of green and low-carbon development has been greatly improved.
Under the general trend of green and low carbon, the sustainable development of the ferroalloy industry requires continuous technological innovation to improve capabilities, statistical process analysis to ensure quality, and fine control to reduce costs.
▶Technology innovation ability
In the "Implementation Guide for Energy Saving and Carbon Reduction Transformation and Upgrading of Ferroalloy Industry", it is mentioned to further promote automation and intelligence, and improve the level of industry equipment. Give full play to economies of scale and reduce energy consumption, such as using closed submerged arc furnaces to recover gas for raw material drying, sintering and power generation, etc., reducing the use and consumption of primary energy from the source, and reducing the amount of various pollutants discharged into the atmosphere. For example, a certain amount of coke powder is proportioned in the pellet production process, and the reduction reaction of the pellets occurs at a high temperature of about 1200 degrees, and the iron and alloy elements in the pellets are partially reduced, which can be greatly improved during the submerged arc furnace batching and power distribution. Reduce electricity consumption and other fuel consumption in submerged arc furnace ferroalloy production.
The prerequisite for the application of this technology is to accurately grasp the reduction rate of the pellets out of the kiln in order to effectively guide the power distribution and fuel distribution of the submerged arc furnace. If the reduction rate of the pellets depends on the actual test data of the laboratory, the average delay is 4 hours , That is to say, when the test results of the reduction rate of the pellets come out, this batch of ore has already been discharged from the furnace. In order to effectively and timely grasp the reduction rate of the pellets out of the furnace, the key process parameters affecting the reduction rate of the pellets, such as the feed ratio of the rotary kiln, the temperature of the kiln head and kiln tail, the atmosphere, the speed of the grate, and the thickness of the material, and the laboratory pellets can be collected online. Actual inspection of reduction rate and other data, through regression analysis, accurately predict the reduction rate of each batch of pellets, guide the power distribution and fuel distribution of the submerged arc furnace, and improve the precise control ability of the submerged arc furnace.
▶ Statistical process analysis to ensure quality
The national ferroalloy market has overcapacity of ordinary ferroalloys, while the ferroalloys used to produce ultra-high strength steel, bearing steel, aircraft landing gear and other special steels in aviation and aerospace fields cannot meet the production requirements. Ferroalloy enterprises should increase investment in research and development, improve product quality, produce ferroalloy products for special steel precision casting, and make up for shortcomings.
The production of ferroalloy products produced by precision casting of special steel requires stable process control capabilities. Statistical process control (SPC) can be used to conduct SPC analysis and process capability analysis on the key control process parameters of the ferroalloy production process with the help of the eight different rules of statistical process control (SPC) to identify unsatisfactory processes in the production process. Stable factors, and through continuous optimization and improvement, improve quality control accuracy, and support the research and development and mass production of special steel precision casting ferroalloy products.
▶Precise process control to reduce energy consumption
At present, the production process control requirements of various ferroalloy enterprises are relatively broad. For example, when the operating instructions of an enterprise require that the furnace temperature of the submerged arc furnace is low, the power consumption of a single furnace should be increased by 5000-10000Kwh. The relatively broad control requirements result in inaccurate control of molten iron composition. Energy consumption control capabilities are limited. In order to effectively control the composition of molten iron and reduce energy consumption, AIOT is used to collect batching data, furnace condition data, and power distribution data in real time on a daily basis. Through the analysis and application of big data regression models, the specific power distribution data can be accurately predicted, which not only improves the precise control ability of equipment, but also reduces Production energy consumption.
▶AI electricity price forecast reduces costs
The production power consumption of ferroalloy enterprises accounts for 25%-65% of the total cost. In order to reduce the cost of power consumption, ferroalloy enterprises can train AI prediction models based on massive historical data including climate, hydrology, and historical electricity price data to achieve accurate power transaction price predictions. , and adapt the production plan to the electricity price forecast results, thereby reducing electricity cost consumption. A certain enterprise has reduced electricity consumption costs by more than 1.5 million yuan a month through electricity price forecasts.