The investigation of the effect of metallurgical digital twin application on process in iron-steel plant

In the iron and steel sector, which has high raw material and energy consumption and generates significant waste, taking all necessary measures for sustainable steel production, implementing energy and material conservation practices, and minimizing environmental impacts are of great importance. To successfully accomplish these processes, digitalization, transition to a circular economy, green transformation, and transformed production processes within the value chain are required. Thanks to the developments brought by Industry 4.0, achieving these four elements has become easier than ever before. In the production process of Bilecik Iron and Steel, discontinuities in the ladle furnace processes, which serve as a bridge between induction furnaces and continuous casting machines, cause serious disruptions and bottlenecks in the production process. To eliminate these bottlenecks and create a more efficient and sustainable ladle furnace process free from variations, a comprehensive metallurgical digital twin covering the entire ladle furnace processes was created. The energy efficiency, temperature management, raw material consumption, product loss rates, Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) culture, maintenance activities, and environmental impact of the ladle furnace were examined. As a result of this study, an improvement of 22.6% in energy efficiency, 7°C in temperature management, 86% in OHS performance, 69% reduction in breakdown repair time, and 84.6% reduction in time between two breakdowns have been achieved. In addition, in the environmental dimension, Scope 3 emissions have been reduced by 4 million kg CO2/year, and the water footprint has been reduced by 5.8 million l/year.