US-Egypt Cooperative Research: Production Technology of High Purity Pig Iron in Small and Medium Cupola Foundries

Tennessee Technological University, Cookeville TN

Investigators

Abstract

0217104 Abdelrahaman Description: This award is for support of a joint research project by Dr. Mohamed Abdelrahaman, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Tennessee Technological University, Cookeville, Tennessee and Dr. Ibrahim Moustafa, Foundry Department at the Central Metallurgical Research and Development Institute in Helwan, Egypt. They plan to develop technology for the production of high purity pig iron by integrating automatic control technology and optimization of the composition of the charge materials. While cupola melting is simple in principle the actual physical and chemical details of the process are quite complex, and the phenomena occurring in the melt zone are difficult to measure directly. Automatic control of the cupola melting process promises improved energy efficiency, a less environmental impact and improved quality of produced iron. Thus, the project would achieve two objectives: the first is to test and demonstrate the general automatic control technology for cupola furnaces developed by the American side and the second is to investigate the production of high purity pig iron by the integration of optimized charge materials with the automatic control of the cupola furnace Scope: In this project the U.S. PI has been leading research efforts in the US for developing automatic control systems for cupola furnaces. However, the cost of performing the experimental testing of the developed control systems in the US is a hurdle that limits the demonstration of the developed technology and in turn the deployment of the technology in the industry. The Egyptian side (CMRDI) has an experimental cupola-melting furnace with a one ton per hour capacity, in addition to a well-equipped metallurgical laboratory with facilities to measure the chemical composition of molten metal, microstructure and mechanical properties. These facilities offer a relatively inexpensive way for developing and testing the desired technology.