SLOPPING WARNING SYSTEM FOR THE LD

CONVERTER PROCESS - AN EXTENDED

EVALUATION STUDY

Magnus Evestedt  Alexander Medvedev 

Mathias Thorén  Wolfgang Birk 

 Department of Information Technology, Uppsala University,

P. O. Box 337, SE-951 05, SWEDEN
 SSAB Oxelösund, SE-613 80 Oxelösund, SWEDEN
 Luleå University of Technology, SE-971 87 Luleå, SWEDEN

Abstract: The most common steel-making process in the world is the basic oxygen
steelmaking (BOS) process. During operation, a layer of foaming slag is created on the
surface of the molten metal to improve the converter performance. Problems arise when
the slag level exceeds the height of the vessel and overflows, causing metal loss, process
disruption and environmental pollution. A warning system, based on adaptive filtering
and key process parameter measurements is evaluated on data from 100 charges at SSAB
Oxelösund. Slopping is correctly detected in 80% of the blows. Copyright c 2007 IFAC

Keywords: Alarm systems, steel industry, process control, adaptive filters.

1. INTRODUCTION duction with high product quality and to minimize the

The first basic oxygen steel making (BOS) process
was developed in the early 1950s in Linz, Austria.
It was suitably given the name Linz-Donawitz (LD)
converter and has since then been further developed
and become the most dominant steel making process
in the world, responsible for over 60% of the total steel
production, according to (www, 2007).
The LD process is normally run by an operator moni-
toring the blow progress from a control room. Most of
the available control variables (oxygen lance height,
bottom gas flow etc.) are scheduled according to pre-
defined programs that can be overrun by the operator
in order to handle unexpected process deviations and
disturbances, if needed.
Automatic control of the BOS process is difficult, due
to the complexity of the underlying chemistry and
physics. Besides, the key quality parameters such as
carbon content and temperature of the melt are not
measured on-line, which altogether makes feedback
control design very hard. In (Widlund et al., 1998) a
study with the aim at model-based closed-loop control
is presented. The purpose of developing automatic
control systems is both to assure cost-efficient pro-
environmental impact of the process.
The paper is organized as follows. First, the LD con-
verter process is described and the slopping detection
problem is formulated. The employed algorithms for
slopping warning are then summarized followed by a
detailed analysis of the warning system performance
on data from a large number of heats.
2. PROCESS DESCRIPTION
The LD converter, basically composed of a vessel
for the hot metal and a water-cooled oxygen lance,
is illustrated in Fig. 1. Filling the vessel with mate-
rial is called charging. The BOS vessel is filled to
one-fifth with steel scrap and then molten iron from
the blast furnace is added to obtain the proper heat
balance. Slag forming agents, such as burnt lime or
dolomite, are loaded into the converter to form slag
which absorbs impurities of the melt. Pure oxygen is
blown through the lance, at supersonic speed, hitting
the metal bath from above and causing the temperature
to rise to about 1700oC . The scrap melts and metal
components such as iron (Fe), silicon (Si), manganese
(Mn) and carbon (C) are oxidised, lowering the car-
bon content and removing contaminating chemical el-
ements. The metal in the furnace forms an emulsion
with the created slag giving rise to a foam. This fa-
cilitates the refining process due to the large contact
area between the chemical elements in the foaming
slag and improves thermal conditions in the furnace.
The slag formation can be controlled by the operator
through chemical additives, changes of lance position,
as well as manipulation of oxygen flow through the
nozzle and bottom gas flow rate.
After 10 20 minutes of blowing, the carbon content
of the molten metal is expected to have reached its
target percentage. The temperature is measured and
samples are taken to analyze the chemistry of the
steel melt. If the analysis is approved, the steel is
poured into a ladle and further refined later in the steel
production process chain.
O
2 Microphone
Additional elements
Metal
N 2 , Ar
Fig. 1. The LD converter process.
2.1 Measurements
Key process variables are stored in real-time to keep
track of the blow. Besides, it facilitates tracing back
possible malfunctions when something goes wrong
in the process. The information database is partially
presented in Fig. 1. Different types of sensors are
used to provide the measurement signals and, thus, the
database entries are not fully synchronized due to time
delays. In Table 1 some of the available measurements
are given.
2.2 The slopping problem
To make the LD converter process effective, a signif-
icant slag volume is needed in the vessel. However,
the slag volume is bounded by the limited size of
the converter vessel. If the slag level is too high, the
vessel overflows resulting in severe dust emissions
and reduction of the metal yield. This phenomenon
is called slopping. Furthermore, the steel production
must be stopped to clean the area below the vessel and
the vessel mouth.
The slopping phenomenon is complex, dynamic and
dependent on many process variables. A list of such
variables was presented in (Walker, 2005) and in-
cluded
 Slag viscosity
 Slag surface tension
 Slag density
 Size of the gas bubbles generated in the decar-
burization process
 Vessel working lining height, volume and shape
 Lance height above the bath
 Oxygen flow rate through the lance
 Lance hole wear
 Chemistry of the hot metal and the scrap
 Decarburization speed
The bare length of the above list explains the common
belief that the slopping phenomenon is chaotic and
unpredictable. The persistence of slopping problems
PC
in many steel mills have given rise to a search for ways
to maintain a suitable foam volume while preventing
Off−gas
slopping from occurring. Unfortunately, this has, over
the last decades, proved to be a rather challenging task.
The efforts to develop a system for slopping warning
and mitigation have been focused on three major ar-
eas:
Data− (1) Modelling of slopping and its potential to occur
base
(2) Measurement devices that detect the onset of
slopping
(3) Mitigation measures undertaken in real-time to
prevent the development of full-blown slopping
PC
events
An example of the first group is the results presented
Camera in (Chukwulebe et al., 2004), where an optimal blow
profile was calculated based on the initial composition
of the melt. A similar system based on a calculation of
the slopping potential for each heat was developed in
(Shakirov et al., 2004).
A microwave gauge was utilized in (Doe, 1984) to
measure the slag surface level relative to the vessel
mouth. A detection system involving oxygen lance
vibration measurements was used in (Pak et al., 1996)
and (Walker, 2005). Radio waves were employed for
slag depth measurements in (Baath, 2003). These are
all examples of the second group.
A promising direction of research is to combine online
measurement devices for early slopping detection and
use it for initiating process interventions to mitigate
slopping. Extensive studies of slag forming have been
performed to this end. To gain insight, different kinds
of empirical equations describing the change in foam
height have been suggested in the past, (Ito and Frue-
han, 1989a; Ito and Fruehan, 1989b). A model with a
physical background is derived in (Ogawa et al., 1993)
using results of cold and hot model experiments. The
area of dynamic modeling of slag foaming is taken
even further by the results in (Misra et al., 1998). On
the basis of a physical model, a system for control of
dynamic foaming is developed in (Birk et al., 2001).
A water model of the LD converter process is used to
validate the results. The approach is further refined in
(Birk et al., 2003).
 Table 1. A selection of the available process information data from the data base.
Measuring method Location Obtained process information Time Delay
Off-gas analysis In the off-gas system Calculation of percentage of CO and CO2 plus
the measured off-gas flow rate. 15-25 sec.

Sonic-Meter In the hood above the The sound level indicates changes in the slag level. None
converter mouth

Oxygen flow meter In the lance Gives the actual oxygen flow rate through the lance. None

Lance height In the lance control system Gives the lance position as calculated by the lance system. None

Camera surveillance/ Below the LD converter Monitors the amount of falling slag to quantify slopping. None
image analysis

In (Widlund et al., 1998), slopping is detected by

a combination of the sonic-meter and gas analysis.
Another system utilizing the idea of combining sev-
eral measurements was presented in (Evestedt and
Medvedev, 2006), where adaptive filtering and change
detection algorithms are utilized to construct an online
alarm system providing warnings to the operator.
This paper reports results of a performance evaluation
of the alarm system in described detail in (Evestedt
and Medvedev, 2007) on data from a large number
of regular production heats. The evaluation also high-
lights some issues pertaining to system validation and
operator practice.

2.3 Camera for slopping detection Fig. 2. Example of image taken by the camera for
slopping alarm validation below the LD converter
For evaluation purposes an objective way of quantify- vessel.
ing slopping is preferable. In (Widlund et al., 1998)
a person with a stop watch noted the times for slop-
ping observations during the blow. In (Chukwulebe
et al., 2004), VCR cameras were employed while an
attempt to use IR camera devices were unsuccessful
due to software issues.
For the experiments described in the sequel, a cam-
era system was implemented on-site to monitor the
process. The position of the camera is shown in Fig. 1.
When slopping occurs, molten metal will fall from
the top of the converter onto the floor below the ves-
sel. The camera position makes it possible to capture
images of the falling slag. Each frame in the video
sequence is segmented using gray-level thresholding,
(Sonka et al., 1999). A brightness constant or thresh-
old is determined to separate the molten metal from
Fig. 3. Segmented image for slopping quantification.
the darker background. The results of the segmenta-
tion are shown in Fig. 2 and Fig. 3. The ratio between The sonic-meter signal is usually used by the opera-
bright and dark image pixels gives an indication of tor for monitoring slag level changes but it has also
how severe the slopping event is. This ratio is averaged been employed as a controller input in (Bencini and
over a sampling period of 2 seconds and saved in real- Poli, 1993; Abbatangelo et al., 1990; Anderson et
time along with other process data in the database. al., 1991).

2.4 The sonic-meter for slopping detection
Since the beginning of the 1970s, a device called
sonic-meter has been employed in many steel plants
for indirect monitoring of slag foam level, (Nilles and
Holper, 1972). The basic idea is that as the foam
level increases, the sound emission from the vessel
under blowing decreases at certain frequency bands.
3. A WARNING SYSTEM FOR SLOPPING
DETECTION
The idea of combining key measurements with ad-
vanced signal processing is developed in (Evestedt and
Medvedev, 2006) and (Evestedt and Medvedev, 2007).
A system identification model is updated by recur-
sive parameter estimation, see e. g. (Söderström and
Stoica, 1989), and change detection algorithms, see
e. g. (Gustafsson, 2001) are employed to provide
early warnings to the operator at the onset of slop-
ping. The system identification model in (Evestedt and
Medvedev, 2006) is fed with the off-gas flow rate as
of the warning system under evaluation is shown in
Fig. 4, Fig. 5 and Fig. 6 for severe, medium and no
slopping respectively.
5

well as the CO content in the off-gas. The sonic meter 4 Slag level estimate

signal is utilized as an output signal of the model. The 3

Oxygen flow
system is shown to work reasonably well on a limited
2
number of charges.
Lance position
1
The warning system is further refined in (Evestedt and Camera
0
Medvedev, 2007), where the CO content is changed in 0 200 400 600
t [s]
800 1000 1200

favour of a pressure measurement due to difficulties

stemming from time delays in the off-gas analysis. A 4

microphone in the off-gas channel (actually the same

3
one as used by the sonic-meter) provides high resolu-

Alarm grades
tion audio data to a slag foam height estimator based 2
on the intensity of the signal at certain frequencies,
(Birk et al., 2001). 1

In the sequel, the performance of the slopping warning 0

0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200
system reported in (Evestedt and Medvedev, 2007) t [s]

is evaluated on process data logged during a large

number of charges.
4. EXPERIMENTS
Data from 100 charges were collected from the LD
converter process at SSAB Oxelösund AB in Sweden
in September 2006. Due to the high cost of running
the process, the data come from normal operation of
the plant. This means that the operator takes actions to
Fig. 4. Slopping alarms for a heat with severe slop-
ping, lower plot. The foam height estimate, the
camera, the oxygen flow rate and the lance po-
sition are shown in the upper plot. All signals
are suitably scaled for the purpose of illustration.
Slopping alarms generated by the system are of
three levels depending on the persistence of the
symptoms.
5

mitigate slopping whenever it occurs and precautions 4

Slag level estimate

to prevent it from occurring. Practices vary with the 3

Oxygen flow
operator and are very much dependent on previous
2
process experience. As a consequence, the data reflect
Lance position
not only scheduled changes in process variables and 1

those caused by slopping, but also changes initiated by 0

0 200
Camera
400 600 800 1000 1200
the operator adjusting to the process state. This must t [s]

be kept in mind when evaluating the warning system. 4

In the next section the evaluation results are presented

3
together with more detailed discussion of specific
Alarm grades

heats that illustrate operator actions and alarm system 2

characteristics.
1

0
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200
5. RESULTS t [s]

The camera signal was used to validate the warning
system performance. In 80% of the heats slopping
was correctly detected, in 8% of the heats the slop-
ping events were missed and 12% were corrupted by
false alarms. Below, system performance examples are
given in case of severe slopping, medium slopping
and no slopping. Significant issues raised by the alarm
system evaluation campaign and experience derived
from it are also discussed.
5.1 Slopping events rating
The operator rates slopping events on a scale from 1
to 3 where 1 stands for no slopping, 2 for medium
slopping and 3 for severe slopping. The performance
Fig. 5. Slopping alarms for a heat with with medium
slopping, lower plot. The foam height estimate,
the camera, the oxygen flow rate and the lance
position are shown in the upper plot.
5.2 Alarm threshold choice
A detailed presentation of the alarm system is given in
(Evestedt and Medvedev, 2007). The alarm threshold
in the change detector needs to be adjusted to the
data from each individual charge in order to obtain
desired detection rate with a reasonable number of
false alarms. Since this is not feasible in a real-time
application, the threshold and drift parameter have
been carefully selected to yield an acceptable level of
7 8

Foam height estimate

7
6

6
5

5
4
Argon flow
4

3
Oxygen flow 3
Oxygen flow

2
2

Operator classification
1 Lance position
Lance 1

Camera
0 0
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200
t [s] t [s]

Fig. 6. Slopping alarms for a heat with no slopping, Fig. 7. The experienced operator takes actions to pre-
lower plot. The foam height estimate, the camera, vent slopping even before the camera has regis-
the oxygen flow rate and the lance position are tered falling slag.
shown in the upper plot.
5

performance in general. This of course decreases the 4

performance of the warning system. A better solution
to this problem would be to relate the values of de- 3
Oxygen flow

tector parameters to the process operation conditions 2

and raw material properties, thereby attaining adaptive 1

Lance position

selectivity for the alarms. 0

0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000
t [s]

4
5.3 Operator induced changes
3
Alarm grades

The difficulties of evaluating the warning system 2

on data from normal operation of the LD converter
process are illustrated by some typical heats. 1

The experienced operator sometimes uses his/her 0

0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000
knowledge of when in the heat slopping usually oc- t [s]

curs to take preventive measures and thus avoid slag

overflow. This is the case in Fig. 7 where the cautious
operator has decreased the oxygen flow rate, lowered
the lance and increased the bottom stirring by increas-
ing the argon gas flow. The operator has also reported
slopping of grade 2. Taking into account that the cam-
era below the vessel does not register any falling slag
raises the question of what the operator reacted to.
The warning system did not issue any warnings in this
particular case.
The normal procedure of running the LD process is
that the oxygen flow rate and lance position follow
certain predefined programs during the blow. These
can be of course overrun by the operator whenever
process conditions call for that. In Fig. 8 the lance
position was frequently changed in the end of the blow
triggering multiple alarms. Should these alarms be
considered false or not on this particular charge? The
system clearly reacts to abnormal process changes, in
this case however not inflicted by slopping. Notice that
the lance height is not fed into the detection algorithm.
Fig. 9 shows a heat where a slopping event, graded
by the operator as 3, occurs. As can be seen, the
operator decreases the oxygen flow rate and lance
height simultaneously and acknowledges after a while
the slopping. In this case the warning system has
Fig. 8. The alarm system reacts on process changes
such as frequent lance movements.
issued a sequence of alarms, and it can be seen that
some falling slag is captured by the camera. Why it
is graded as severe slopping by the operator is not
clear though. At around 800 seconds into the blow,
the camera however registers what is considered to be
a severe slopping event by the operator. In this case
the camera concurs. Should the operator or the camera
be trusted for validation of the warning system? At
time instances when the oxygen flow rate is decreased
and the lance position is lowered, warnings are issued,
indicating the sensitivity of the warning system to
operator induced process changes.
6. CONCLUSIONS
Process data from 100 charges of the LD converter at
SSAB Oxelösund were collected during September,
2006. The data were employed to evaluate the per-
formance of a warning system for slopping detection.
The system was able to detect slopping correctly in
80% of the blows. Higher system performance can
be expected provided false alarms caused by operator
 5 Chukwulebe, B.O., S.R. Balajee, K.J. Robertson, J.G.
4
Slag level estimate
Operator slopping grading
3
Oxygen flow
2 Technology Conference Proceedings. Nashville,
1
Lance position
0
0 200 400
4 Evestedt, M. and A. Medvedev (2006). Model-based
3
Alarm grades
2 plications. Munich, Germany.
1
0
0 200 400
Fig. 9. Two slopping events differently graded by the
camera and the operator.
induced process changes are masked and the detection
algorithms parameters are scheduled with respect to
heat program and raw materials properties. The sys-
tem is currently being installed at SSAB Oxelösund
for real-time operation.
7. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors wish to express their gratitude for the
financing from the EC 6th Framework programme as
a Specific Targeted Research or Innovation Project
(HIPCON)(Contract number NMP2-CT-2003-505467).
SSAB Oxelösund is acknowledged for providing the
process data needed for this work. Anders Björk is
also acknowledged for his help with hardware issues.
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