SINTER PLANT AUTOMATION ON A NEW LEVEL AS IMPLEMENTED AT WISGCO'S NO 1 SINTER PLANT

In September 2000 Wuhan Iron and Steel (Group) Co. placed an order with VAI for the postinstallation of a sinter plant automation package (Level 2 automation and process optimization) which included a process information system and various online process models.Key benchmarks of the installed automation package included productivity increase of 3 % 5 %, reduction of coke consumption by more than 2 % and system availability exceeding 99.5 %. The automation system was started up in April 2001, only seven months after the commencement of the project. This paper describes the installed modules as well as initial results at WISCO's No 1 Sinter Plant.