Coke quality control based on theoretical coking model combined with coke temperature control system

An advanced coke plant total control system developed at Sumitomo Metals is described. It has two main control functions. One is a coal blending ratio control system to attain target coke quality under the planned operating conditions. The other is a coke oven temperature control system to attain the target pushing-out coke temperature under the charged blended coal and coking time. The coke quality is controlled by the goal programming method using a theoretical coking model and an online coal dilatation sensor. The coke temperature is controlled by a heat transfer model in the coke chamber and an optimal regulator based on an autoregressive model. This total control system has been applied at the Wakayama Steel Works, and as a result the coke oven heat consumption and coal cost for the production of coke for iron making use have decreased markedly