Basic Oxygen Furnace (BOF) MACT Project

Customer: Steel Customer

Project Type: Control system upgrade

Project Scope: The BOF utilizes an induced draft primary ductwork system for scrubbing and cleaning off gas from the steelmaking process. The existing control systems consisted largely of obsolete Provox and Square-D PLC controllers on a SyNet network for Level 1 control. The operator interface was made up of hardwired pushbutton controls and a Provox interface for control of the off-gas system as well as an obsolete AMI-6000 for control of the CT Probe. The Level 2 system utilized a combination of HP1000 computers and a HP2250 I/O interface for hot metal tracking throughout the steelmaking department, process models and data storage. These systems were upgraded in order to meet the new emissions controls and reporting requirements.

The new emissions control system implemented a distributed architecture with a new fiber optic backbone routed to each of four new prefabricated buildings for computer and control equipment. Civil/Structural design services were provided for the design of the new prefabricated buildings along with their associated on site structural supports and concrete pads.

Redundant Allen-Bradley ControlLogix processors replaced the Provox and Square-D controls while a redundant GE Fanuc iFIX SCADA system was implemented as the operator interface. The new Level 2 computer was made up of two HP DS-25 Alpha computers running OpenVMS and Oracle RDB.

Engineering Challenges: Aging technology and a lack of updated documentation added serious challenges to the upgrade project.  Additionally, only small windows of downtime were provided to perform the upgrade.

Products and Technologies Used: GE Proficy iFIX SCADA and Rockwell Automation ControlLogix PLCs

Project Outcomes: The project was very successful and the system started up on time and on budget, meeting all emissions targets immediately.