Modelling the hot metal desulfurization process using artificial intelligence methods

Abstract

The objective of conducted research on the hot metal desulfurization process was to determine the key process parameters that impact the ultimate outcome of desulfurization. As a result, the noticeable outcome of implementing these measures should be the improvement of quality control. In order to determine these parameters, used artificial intelligence methods like as neural networks (ANN). On the basis of the production data collected from the actual metallurgical aggregate for hot metal desulfurization, neural networks were built that used quantitative data (mass of hot metal, mass of used reagents, etc.) and qualitative data (chemical analysis of hot metal). The parameters of the desulfurization process were divided into state parameters and control parameters. From the point of view of the technology of conducting the desulfurization process and building an on-line model, only control parameters can be changed during desulfurization. To describe the problem of predicting change in the sulfur content during the hot metal desulfurization process is sufficient an MLP type neural network with a single hidden layer. Adopting a more complex network structure would probably lead to a loss of the ability to generalise the problem. The research was carried out in STATISTICA Automated Neural Networks SANN.

Keywords

• desulfurization
• hot metal
• neural networks
• steelmaking