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18/08/2011
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ABB control systems are helping Tata Steel cut the cost of iron production at its Scunthorpe plant, by allowing it to use medium pressure oxygen in its blast furnaces.
 The Scunthorpe site produces carbon steel by the basic oxygen method, and its previous pressurised oxygen plant was producing high pressure oxygen at 42 bar, whereas the three blast furnaces need 11 bar.
Tata, in partnership with BOC, built a new medium pressure oxygen plant on the site, together with a 4.5 km pipeline to serve the three blast furnaces – Queen Bess, Queen Victoria and Queen Anne, controlled by ABB Advant, 800xA and MasterView systems respectively.
"Each blast furnace already had an ABB AC450 controller," explains Gopal Chopra, ABB project manager. "So, to allow the furnaces to use the medium pressure oxygen supply, we upgraded and expanded the controllers and linked them by a Modbus serial link to a PLC, which collects data about the operation of the furnaces and provides information management and reports for all three. We also installed ABB S800 I/O, for the hardwired signals for each furnace."
The new oxygen pipeline feeds the blast furnaces via a three way valve station, with flow control to each continuously varied according to the condition and oxygen demand of the furnaces. Both pressure line control and flow control are under ABB control.
"It is a very complex control system and everyone at ABB did a really good job," comments Ian Render, project engineer with Tata Steel.
"They were all very dedicated, from the software developers to the guys doing the commissioning on site," he continues. "The result is a very good control system that allows us to make use of a lower cost oxygen supply route. Overall, the project has been a big success."
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Author
Brian Tinham
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