Abstract
This work was aimed at the analysis of the operating practices of the reheating furnace in the hot strip mill (HSM) at Tata Steel with the objective of reducing the fuel consumption. The operating practices were examined thoroughly, starting from the slab scheduling stage to the soaked slab discharging stage for the roughing mill. The study was important as there was considerable shortage in fuel supply that caused production delays from time to time. The job was challenging because the fuel consumption was already lowered by 2·83% compared to the supplier’s committed figure. The system of operation as the HSM is complex and is much dependent on external factors such as ‘timely slab supply’ by LD2 and slab caster and ‘consistent fuel supply’ by the Fuel Management Department (FMD). It is possible to reduce the losses due to external factors by coordinating between planning, LD2 and slab caster and the FMD. The plant operating data were collected and analysed. Individual regression showed correlation between fuel consumption and many other variables. The hot charging percentage in particular was one of the major variables, and this was increased by improving the planning and operating practices. The strategic decision of including 100% of the schedulable slabs produced by LD2 and the slab caster in the rolling schedule in hot condition helped immensely in reducing the fuel consumption. The results obtained by analysis were encouraging and indicated the existence of further scope of improvement in the operating practices. Incremental improvement in each of the dependent variables helped in reducing the fuel consumption to some extent. Finally, the fuel consumption at the HSM furnaces has lowered by 6·61% after completing this coveted work.
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