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AIST Presents 2011 Energy Achievement Award to ArcelorMittal Dofasco
Nov. 15, 2011 AIST’s Energy and Utilities Technology Committee (EUTC) presented the 2011 Energy Achievement Award to ArcelorMittal Dofasco Inc. for its Hot Mill Reheat Furnace Heating Optimization Project. The award was presented at the AIST Northern Chapter meeting on 8 November 2011 at the Atrium Conference Centre, Burlington, Ont., Canada.
The Energy and Utilities Technology Committee established the AIST Energy Achievement Award in 2007 to recognize an individual, group and/or company in the iron and steel producing sector that has implemented at their facility a project resulting in energy conservation or a significant improvement in energy-related productivity. This recognition by the industry will inform other companies about successful approaches and encourage them in the pursuit of more efficient utilization of energy at their plants.
The award-winning project was implemented and completed by staff at ArcelorMittal Dofasco. It involved development of new level 2 furnace control programming to optimize the heating curve for mill-limited and furnace-limited situations, as well as to increase the percentage of warm charged slabs. It was accomplished through the application of statistical methods employed to optimize soak time for each product. The results were increased furnace throughput and decreased natural gas usage per ton produced. This improvement has been in commercial use since the fall of 2010.
“This project was undertaken by a team of 30 at ArcelorMittal Dofasco,” said Kevin Hunt, Hot Mill Energy Team Leader. “We considered every option to improve our production and energy efficiency. The result is a win-win for both our business and our efforts to make steel more sustainable. We are very proud of the recognition from our colleagues at AIST.”
In addition to the award listed above, the recipients of the AIST Association-Level Awards, AIST Technology Division–Level Awards, AIST Member Chapter Awards and AIME Awards will be announced at the President’s Award Breakfast during AISTech 2012 — The Iron & Steel Technology Conference and Exposition on Tuesday, 8 May 2012, at the Georgia World Congress Center, Atlanta, Ga., USA. Tickets to this event can be purchased at AISTech.org beginning 1 December 2011.
AIST is an international technical association of more than 13,000 professional and student members, representing iron and steel producers, their allied suppliers and related academia. The association is dedicated to advancing the technical development, production, processing and application of iron and steel.