Improving the Energy Efficiency of a Pusher Type Reheating Furnace by Finding Out the Process Deficiency during Energy Balance Study and Process Optimization

The steel plants are using energy in various stages like Iron making, Steel making and Rolling processes. Almost 30% of the total production cost is covered by the energy spent on this. Rolling mills are using the reheating furnaces to heat up the steel slabs or billets to the rolling temperature of 1230-12500C. It is necessary to pay attention on the high energy consuming processes and to optimize it. This work is aimed at particularly on the reduction in fuel consumption, process improvement and optimization. Plant measurements are taken on site and the operating data is collected at different condition, by which energy balance study is conducted for three times. After correlating the visual observation and analyzing the process operating data, many improvement opportunities are revealed. Action taken on each of them one by one. Finally, the energy efficiency improved by 8.49% which resulted in savings of INR 49 million OR, 0.87 Million Singapore $ in a year.