Otimização da mistura de minérios no processo de sinterização objetivando minimizaçãode custo

Abstract

Sintering composes an important process in an integrated steel mill. It accounts for 60% to 95% of the charged metal blend in a blast furnace. The sinter composes the intermediate product in an integrated steel mill. It is produced by mixing ores, fluxes, fuel and steel residues, formulated to meet both the operating conditions of the sintering process and the quality requirements of the pig iron production process. Iron ore plays animportant role in this context, both by the volume involved and by the impact of its cost on the sintering process. This work deals with the optimization and planning of the ore mixture to be usedin the sintering plant of a steel producer. The current scenario counts on a great variety of ores with prices and very different qualities. The basic proposal is the development of a mathematical model that seeks to optimize the mixture to sinter that meet the requirementsof the product at the lowest possible cost. For that, we developed and implemented optimization models based on linear programming. The objective function adopted is to minimize the cost of production. The concept of goals was used, where each managerial goal studied was treated as a constraint in the model. In the stages of implementation, validation and sensitivity analysis where the production was increased in each of the six scenarios in 5% (260,148t), the results proved the efficiency and the potential of the model in minimizing the costs of the ore mixture