Transient model-based operation guidance on blast furnace

To reduce the heat variance and realize the stable operation of a blast furnace, an operation guidance system was developed. This system involves nonlinear model predictive control based on a new transient model and provides appropriate guidance to operators. Accurate future prediction is a key to success because the huge heat capacity of the blast furnace leads to slow, complex dynamics with long dead time. The online validation results in the actual furnace showed that the standard deviation of the hot metal temperature was reduced by 3.7 °C when the operators followed the guidance provided by the developed system.