Abstract:
The use of coke as fuel in Blast Furnaces is necessary, despite the environmental constraints and the costs involved. To reduce the amount of coke used in the process, measures such as the injection of hydrocarbons are adopted, among which, the pulverized coal, which is proven a good partial substitute of coke loaded in the Blast Furnaces. Pulverized coal injection (PCI) provides a greater economic return, when used in the manufacturing process of pig iron, which allows a greater capacity of the injection rate when comparing with the use of oils, gases and other substituents. In the process of coal injection, according to the objective of the present work, it is necessary a low variability (ratio of the actual coal rate with the requested set point). The use of the methodology (Six Sigma) was of fundamental importance for the main actions adopted, and brought as main results, stability in the grinding and injection processes, as well as the reduction of the deviation of the injection rate from 16% to 10%, generating an economy for Ternium BR