Pilot SITES

This pilot will focus on the steelmaking process, which includes melting raw materials, getting the right composition and casting it in the chosen semi-product form. The prototype to be installed in the SIDENOR plant in Basauri, Spain, will help plant operators to solve online production planning problems arising from failures that can occur during steelmaking operations and cause delays or other problems to the scheduled production.

Left: Electric arc furnace of the Sidenor steel plant

The pilot at ÇIMSA will focus on the white Portland cement manufacturing process, which is usually not energy efficient and requires regular manual interventions to maintain continuous operation. The project’s solution will optimise the process parameters based on monitored and recorded data in order to achieve a more energetically efficient cement manufacturing process.

The pilot for chemicals will focus on the liquid-liquid extraction process of rare-earth elements. This process consists of a number of continuous operations of series equipment that require manual analysis to be controlled. This results in frequent process problems and interruptions. A distributed control system and sensors for pH, mass meters, levels and in-line spectro-photometers are in place to control the process. However, there is no overall structure to optimise the entire process. The project will optimise the productivity, quality and energy efficiency of the steam boilers.