Optimization of the Process of Unloading of Iron Ore Raw Materials: The Case of a Steel Plant

Abstract

The process of unloading iron ore raw materials of the metallurgical plant to the sinter plant has not been considered for a long time as a particular topic. Over the last years the conditions of metallurgical production have undergone certain changes: its intensification has occurred, which entails the need to re-evaluate parameters of stable operation of sinter production. The objective of the suggested study is to consider the issues of possible technical and technological improvement harmonizing transport flows with the requirements of the main production process. To achieve this goal, a technique of mathematical modelling is used, based on the mathematical apparatus of linear programming; graphic-analytical method; method of probability theory.The issues of the process of unloading, storage of iron ore raw materials, of their preparation for sinter production are primarily considered.The article presents the main positions of the process of optimizing unloading of sinter batch of a metallurgical plant.The general characteristics of the technology of metallurgical production and of each particular process are described. The agglomeration process is considered in more detail. The tables of initial iron ore raw materials for sintering production for certain reporting periods are given, for the sake of clarity, the data of one of the tables are summarized in a diagram. A diagram of a standard trestle-type ore warehouse is considered, which sequentially shows the main processes of sintering production from supply of raw materials to the car dumper to getting through a belt conveyor into a stack, and then into receiving bins. The article also provides an example of formation of piles of iron ore raw materials using manganese limestone.The study is based on a dynamic transport problem with delays (DTPD), which considers time of transportation of goods, the dynamics of production volumes over time, the dynamics of consumption, the dynamics of stocks of suppliers and consumers, dynamics of cost of transportation and storage, dynamics of cost of consumption losses. The study contains several mono-problems with a mono load, which overlap each other, forming a multiplicative overlay of single-product problems.