(118c) Improving Process Sustainability for a Large U.S. Gray Iron Foundry

Improving Process Sustainabililty
for a Large U.S. Gray Iron Foundry

Prashant Nagapurkar,
Shyam Paudel and Joseph D.
Smith, PhD.

Missouri
University of Science and Technology, Rolla, Missouri, USA

Abstract

Sustainability has been a key issue
in many industrial processes. In 2012, the U.S. produced 12 million tonnes of metal castings equivalent to $34 billion in total
revenue. The metal casting industry will continue to face unstable energy
markets as well as stringent Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations
for their greenhouse gas emissions. Therefore, it is necessary to evaluate the
environmental effects of the foundry process. This study conducts a life cycle
analysis for assessing environmental impacts associated with the production of
gray iron castings at the Caterpillar^TM
foundry at Mapleton, IL. Initially, a base case study has been developed on Powersim^TMsoftware to estimate the
CO₂ emissions for the existing process at Mapleton foundry. Based on
our plant visit and its process assessment, we have proposed advanced control
strategies for energy intensive variables like melters, fans, dust collectors
and burners to optimize and reduce energy consumption. After implementation of
these control strategies our simulation results show that Mapleton foundry has a  potential to reduce
their CO₂ emissions by 18% when compared to the base model thereby
making their process more sustainable and profitable.