Scientific Problems in Creating Intelligent Control Systems for Technological Processes in Pyrometallurgy Based on Industry 4.0 Concept

This article discusses the main application fields of the Industry 4.0 concept at the Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Company (MMK); this concept enables creating a unified information foundation for implementing a set of measures to optimize and improve the efficiency of individual units, workshops, industries, and the overall enterprise. For the blast furnace iron-making process, this concept involves the intellectualization of the process personnel’s tasks, provision of solutions to modeling problems, process flow optimization, and implementation of decision-making support systems in production processes automation and control. Using the methodology of system research, the Ural Federal University (UrFU) and Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works (MMK) improved the model of the blast furnace process and significantly expanded its practical capabilities; they accomplished such an improvement by considering the thermal mode, gas-dynamic mode, blasting mode, slag mode, available information on the blast furnace operation, and the uneven distribution of materials and gases. Software development using contemporary digital technologies has resulted in the creation of an automated system for analyzing and forecasting blast furnace production situations in the MMK, and this enables solving a set of technological problems for the management of blast furnace smelting.