Development of a cupola furnace process model. Final technical report

A strategic partnership was formed among the American Foundrymen`s Society and the Federal government to develop and transfer the technology needed by the US foundry industry to: increase energy efficiency of cupola melting; improve recovery of carbon, silicon, and manganese through reduced oxidation losses; and improve productivity due to more uniform and predictable iron compositions. An effective mathematical model of the cupola offers a solution to the complex and interactive chemical and heat transfer processes to melt cast iron. The transient changes in charge size, charge composition, blast rate, and coke rate are used to optimize operation to improve melting rates, minimize oxidation losses of valuable alloying elements (C, Si, and Mn), and maintain iron composition. Despite these challenges, the cupola produces iron at a lower cost, and have better environmental controls than other melting process with 70% of domestic liquid iron produced by this technique. The current study builds on a one-dimensional model developed during Phase 1 and Phase 2 to make it both user friendly and PC compatible to aid the application of this technology in operating foundries. Results are discussed