Energy balance application for Erdemir Coke Plant with thermal camera measurements

Abstract Eregli Iron and Steel Works (Erdemir) began its activities on May 15 1965 with an annual production capacity of 450 000 tons and has made important contributions to Turkey's economy ever since. Today, with a total amount of crude steel production capacity of three million tons, it is the largest iron and steel factory and the sole producer of flat steel in the country. Erdemir produces hot and cold rolled coils, zinc, tin, and chromium plated steel. Coke factories are very important facilities of integrated steel plants. Metallurgical coke, one of the main input factors of the blast furnaces as a source of energy and chemical reagent, obtained from a blend of different coking coals through a process of heating coal in an oxygen free atmosphere, are produced in coke factories. In Erdemir, equipment failures, corrosion, heat losses and wear of refractors have been determined by thermal camera measurements since 1994. It is used as a predictive tool where data are analyzed with the use of a computer program. The results are distributed to related departments via the company intranet systems. In this study, an energy balance application has been done for the coke plant of Erdemir. An energy input and output model has been established in order to determine the lost energy in the process. According to the study, the sensible heat of the red-hot coke accounts for approximately 59.60% of the total heat output from the coke oven, a considerably large heat quantity. On the other hand, heat losses in the form of radiation were determined with the use of thermal camera measurements whereby the results are shown in Sankey diagrams along with other related data relevant to the Erdemir Coke Plant.