Improved through process temperature control as a driver for decarbonisation

At Port Talbot we spend considerable time, effort and cost during our iron and steelmaking processes to
produce and maintain liquid metal within specific temperature windows until such time as it is required to
be cast into solid product. As the most energy and emissions intensive area within the steel making
process any inefficiencies or unplanned losses result in additional cost and emissions which could be
avoided.
As an example, between casting at the blast furnaces (molten iron) and casting the molten steel into slab
we have several process steps as well as transport of said hot metal from various facilities and plants.
On an annualised basis every degree of temperature lost results in an additional heating requirement
which is financially impactful (£80,000 per degree) and results in additional materials and fuels being
used to reheat the liquid metal.
The measurement of temperature within these hostile environments is challenging and as such there are
opportunities to develop more advanced and robust thermometry to enable more process insight as well
as enabling avoidance of additional material usage leading to increased CO2 emissions.
There are areas within the process whereby the measurement of temperature is largely a point
measurement for a significant bulk of material e.g. a 250 tonne 'torpedo' (rail transport vessel) of molten
iron is measured with a handheld IR thermometer. Attempts have been made to ascertain temperature
at various stages within the process and we have experimented with some commercially available
phosphorescent paints however there is a knowledge gap and it is felt this is a particularly fruitful avenue
of research particularly with our chosen collaborators.