Abstract:
This study is concerned with energy conservation in a rolling steel mill located in Bangkok area. The investigation focuses on energy and availability balances of a reheating furnace which consumes about 81% of the total consumption in the production line. The results of the audit indicated that the efficiencies of the furnace system from the first and second laws of thermodynamics were 40.33% and 25.95% respectively. The largest part of heat loss was with the flue gases, approximately 48.51% of the total energy input. The losses were through the stack, inlet and outletdoors in recuperative zone, and the cracked holes near the outlet doors in the soaking zone.The energy conservation measures proposed are to use the high temperature flue gases (500 - 600 OC) that come out of the recuperator to preheat the fuel oil instead of the electricalheater. The scheme requires installation of a heat exchanger system to recover heat and transfer it to the fuel oil. This measure would cut down the amount of electricity in the electrical heaters about 75% which is equivalent to 622,080 Baht per year which would return the investment in about 1.94 years; with the internal rate of return of 37.02%.Other measures are to seal the leakages around the furnace and adjust the pressure in the furnace from 0.8mmH20 to be around 0.2 - 0.3 mrnH20 which could reduce the energy loss with minimal investment. The adjustment of the airlfuel ratio from 2.08 to 1.3 could also reduce the fuel consumption cost by 6,461,456 Baht per year. Furthermore, the replacement of the damaged two outlet doors in the soaking zone would also save the fuel consumption cost about 1,944,211 Baht per year.The electricity cost could be reduced by mapaging the operation to cut down the consumption during idling period which results fiom production interruption and stoppage. Major saving can be achieved with the 18 units of driving gear. This measure can save theelectricity cost 347,760 Baht per year without investment. To install electrical measuring instruments for inspecting and improving efficiency of the machines would be another effectivemeasure in the conservation plan.