Recent Progress and Future Perspective on Mathematical Modeling of Blast Furnace

Currently low reducing agent operation of blast furnace has been actively pursued in ironmaking due to the global warming. The precise and reliable control of blast furnace aiming at the low reducing operation is required to attain smoothly the stable operation. It is considered that the mathematical model on the ironmaking process can play an important role to ensure the stable blast furnace operation. A mathematical model is a powerful tool to improve conventional processes and to design new processes in ironmaking. These tendencies and requirements are common to every country. Thus, the development of advanced mathematical models of blast furnace like DEM (Discrete Element Method) has attracted a special attention in ironmaking field. Moreover, the combined model of DEM with the continuum model is under development for the purpose of the accurate understanding of inner state of blast furnace. In this paper, the recent activity and progress on the development of advanced mathematical model of blast furnace and future perspective for desirable model are described.