Alkali-activated materials (AAM) are construction materials with great potential, especially for their environmental friendliness, but also due to their mechanical properties. Therefore, it is appropriate to pay further attention to these binders. This diploma thesis deals with monitoring the effectiveness of plasticizers in connection with the surface chemistry of the alkali-activated slag system. Sodium hydroxide and sodium water glass were used as alkaline activators for the preparation of alkali-activated blast furnace slag-based systems. To study the effectiveness of the lignosulfonate plasticizer, yield stress, heat flow, adsorption and zeta potential were monitored depending on the amount and time that the plasticizer was added to the system. The results show that the type of activator used in the mixtures plays an important role. NaOH-activated samples revealed the best efficiency of lignosulfonate plasticizers. A key factor in studying the behavior of the studied mixtures was the measurement of the zeta potential, which provided insight into the surface charge of blast furnace slag particles related to the ability of lignosulfonate to adsorb on grains of alkali-activated slag.

The aim of a diploma thesis is design of draft boiler for co-firing blast furnace gas and natural gas. In the first part is made the stoichiometric calculation for the gas mixture. Next is the proposal of combustion chamber and proposal of individual heating surfaces of boiler. Next part contains the thermal calculation and control of individual heating surfaces. Part of the work is also drawing documentation of boiler.

Aluminosilicate refractory grog are being manufactured by firing refractory clays, claystone and shale. Firing takes place mainly in rotary or blast furnaces. However, when adjusting the raw material before firing in blast furnaces, the formation of the fine clay particles takes place. It is not possible to fire the fine particles in blast furnaces the usual way, which leads to the generation of waste. There is a possibility, however, to form briquettes of these particles, which can be fired in blast furnaces. This solution also brings the possibility of adjusting the mixture by using correction raw materials or other types of clay. Using this method, it is possible to produce a special refractory grog with specific properties.

Alkali activated materials could be suitable alternative to construction materials based on ordinary Portland cement (OPC). Therefore, it is advisable to pursue these binders further on. Aim of this thesis is to clarify the effect of lignosulfonate-based plasticizer and polycarboxylate-based superplasticizer on the behaviour and nature of alkali activated materials. For the purposes of studying the efficiency of plasticizing additives, the change of workability of alkali activated blast furnace slag in dependence on time, effect of additives on mechanical properties as well as, with usage of isothermal calorimetry, their impact on kinetics of solidification and hardening had been observed. The stability of the plasticizing admixtures in a high alkaline environment such as water glass and sodium hydroxide had been studied using infrared spectrometry. As a last step, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) had been used while clarifying the chemical changes in the structure of plasticizing additives after adsorption to blast furnace slag.

Iron and its products, especially the various forms of steel, have been and still are a vital material in many sectors of life. It is utilized in many industrial activities ranging from production of heavy duty mechanical equipment to light electrical appliances and home appliances. With the world‟s iron ore consumption estimated to stand at 1.3 billion tonnes by 2025, exploitation of any existing natural deposits is of increasing importance to meet the demands of the expanding world economy. Large deposits of iron ore exist in Uganda in the eastern (Tororo) regions and south-western (Kisoro-Kabale) regions of the country. The ore deposits of Kisoro-Kabale consist of an iron-rich hematite grade with less deleterious impurities as compared to that of Tororo. Prospective quantification puts the deposits at 30-50 million tonnes of raw-ore reserves. To date the deposits lay unexploited, with small holder black smith activities taking place in the area. This work involves understanding the occurrence, quantity and quality of the ore plus its properties and characteristics in a bid to pave way for its exploitation for economic use in Uganda and beyond. Characterisation was done on the samples collected from the deposits, to establish its physical, chemical and metallurgical properties. Literature detailing the natural occurrence of the deposits plus the genesis of the parent rocks and ore and the prospective tonnage is included. The economic situation in Uganda as far as demand and consumption of iron and steel is concerned is also briefly highlighted. The chemical, physical and metallurgical characteristics that could facilitate the initial exploitation of the ore are examined with conclusive results from the representative samples examined. The results present Muko ore as a high grade of hematite with an Fe content averaging 68%. The gangue content (SiO 2+Al2O3) of 5 of the 6 samples investigated is < 4%, which is within the tolerable limits for the dominant iron production processes, with its S and P contents being < 0.1% and 0.07% respectively. Thus, Muko iron ore can be reduced in the furnace without presenting major difficulties. With respect to mechanical properties, Muko ore was found to have a Tumble Index value > 85 wt%, an Abrasion Index value < 4 wt% and a Shatter Index value < 2.5 wt%. This implies that the ore holds its form during the processes of mining, transportation, screening and descent when loaded in the furnace for reduction. Its reducibility index was found to be 0.868%/min. This is well within the desired reduction limits for the major iron reduction processes. It implies that a high productivity (in terms of iron reduced) can be realised in the reduction processes in a given period of time. Muko iron ore was found to meet most of the feed raw material requirements (physical, chemical and metallurgical) for the blast furnace and the major direct reduction processes (Midrex, HYL III and SL/RN). Furthermore, for those desired for sinter and pellet making. It can thus serve well as a feed raw material for smelting reduction and direct reduction processes. / QC 20101007 / Sustainable Technological Development in the Lake Victoria Region

SSAB i Oxelösund ska bygga en ljusbågsugn för konvertering av verksamheten från huvudsakligen malmbaserad produktion till skrotbaserad produktion. I samband med byggandet av ljusbågsugnen kommer en ny 130 kV linje byggas och från denna linje kommer ett nytt 30 kV nät byggas för att mata ljusbågsugnen och två stycken skänkugnar. En av dessa skänkugnar är idag (2019) i drift med 10 kV men ska konverteras till 30 kV medan den andra är en ny elektriskt sett identisk ugn. Anslutningen av dessa tre ugnar till det avskilda 30 kV nätet är till för att begränsa spridning av övertoner och flimmer till övriga laster. Ugnarna ska sedan anslutas till ett gemensamt elektriskt filter, för 30 kV nätet. Ljusbågsugnen och skänkugnarna ska vara i drift första kvartalet 2024, på grund av att det är några år in i framtiden är kortslutningsimpedanser osäkra. För att uppfylla termisk- och korttidsströmsdimensionering för kabeln mellan huvudställverk (OT40) och skänkugnsställverk (SU2) fodras enledarkabel med 300 mm2 aluminiumledare och PEX-isolering. Denna dimensionering förutsätter att förläggning sker i triangelformation, temperaturen är högst 35 °C och kabeln förläggs på sådant sätt att den inte påverkas av andra kablar. Maximal kortslutningsström som kabeln klarar av under den maximala bortkopplingstiden är 32,5 kA. Kortslutnings- och spänningsfallsberäkningar är utförda iprogrammet GNU Octave. Högsta och lägsta kortslutningström i respektive ställverk är beräknad. Överströmsskydden ställs in så att selektiv bortkoppling erhålls, med maximal bortkopplingstid 0,9 sekunder. En blockeringslogik används för att försäkra anläggning enmot oselektiv utlösning. Logiken innebär, enligt SSAB:s praxis, att skyddet närmast felstället ska blockera överordnat skydds kortslutningsströmsteg (>> I). Jordfelsskydd dimensioneras efter en nollpunktsresistor om 10 A. Jordfelsskydden är riktade och friges av nollpunktsspänningsskydd för att säkerställa att okynnesutlösning av jordfelsskydden inte uppstår i samband med omkopplingar eller fel i nätet. Frigivningen fungerar upp till en maximal snedavstämning om cirka 21 A. / SSAB in Oxelösund will build an electric arc furnace to transform business from a mainly ore-based production, with blast furnaces, to a scrap based production. Together with the construction of the electric arc furnace, a new 130 kV overhead line and a 30 kV substation will be built. The 30 kV substation will feed one electric arc furnace and two ladle furnaces. One of these ladle furnaces is currently (2019) being fed with 10 kV, but is going to be converted to 30 kV, while the other one is a new electrically identical furnace. The connection of these three furnaces to the 30 kV grid is done in order to limit the distribution of harmonic distortions and flicker to the other loads. The furnaces on the 30 kV grid will be connected to a common electrical filter. The electric arc furnace and the ladle furnaces will be operational and produce steel in the first quarter of 2024. Since the installation will be performed some years ahead the short circuit impedance is not known. The cable between the main substation (OT40) and the ladle furnace substation (SU2) was being selected according to thermals and short time currents which determined the cable to consist of a single core cable with 300 mm2 aluminium conductor isolated by XLPE-isolation. This is provided that the cable is mountedin a triangle formation along a path with temperatures at maximum 35 C and is placed in such a way that the cable is not influenced thermally by other cables. Short circuit and voltage drop calculations are made in the program GNU Octave. The highest three phase and the lowest two phase short circuit current is calculated in every substation. The overcurrent protection is set to a maximum disconnection time of 0.9 seconds. A blocking logic is being used to further ensure a selectivity in the facility. The logic means, according to SSAB praxis, that the protection closest to the fault blocks the upstream short circuit protection ( I). The earth fault protection is designed around using a neutral grounding resistor of 10 A. The earth fault protection is directional and is being released by the neutral displacement protection to asure no unwanted tripping of the earth fault protection by change-over switching or faults in the grid. The release of the protection works with detuning up to about 21 A.

This work is devoted to describe the possibilities of mechanical activations of admixtures used in concrete. Then, the verification options of grind fly ash, both from brown and black coal, from the classical as well as fluidized combustion and examination their impact on physical and mechanical properties of concrete, especially on long-term development to old age 180 days. Further attention is paid to assessing the impact of the use of mechanically activated fly ash on hydration heat evolution and the associated volume changes in the age of 1 to 90 days. In this work are presented the results of basic technological tests on concretes using admixtures, especially fly ash.

yes / The present paper reports the testing of 12 alkali-activated mortars and a control ordinary portland cement (OPC) mortar. The main aim is to develop cementless binder activated by sodium silicate powder. An alkali quality coefficient combining the amounts of main compositions of source materials and sodium oxide (Na2O) in sodium silicate is proposed to assess the properties of alkali activated mortars, based on the hydration mechanism of alkali-activated pastes. Fly ash (FA) and ground granulated blast-furnace slag (GGBS) were employed as source materials. The ratio of Na2O-to-source material by weight for different mortars ranged between 0.038 and 0.164; as a result, alkali quality coefficient was varied from 0.0025 to 0.0365. Flow loss of fresh mortar, and shrinkage strain, compressive strength and modulus of rupture of hardened mortars were measured. The compressive strength development of alkali activated mortar was also compared with the design equations for OPC concrete specified in ACI 209 and EC 2. Test results clearly showed that the flow loss and compressive strength development of alkali-activated mortar were significantly dependent on the proposed alkali quality coefficient. In particular, a higher rate of compressive strength development achieved at early age for GGBS-based alkali-activated mortar and at long-term age for FA-based alkali-activated mortar. In addition, shrinkage strain and modulus of rupture of alkali-activated mortar were comparable to those of OPC mortar.

In view of the challenges of decarbonisation of the cement industry, the use of low-clinker ternary cements especially with calcined clays is becoming increasingly important. The combination of Portland cement clinker (K), ground granulated blast furnace slag (S) and calcined clay (Q) in ternary cements is very promising in terms of cement and concrete properties. In this study the CO2 footprint of such cements as well as the energy required for their production was determined over a wide range of cement compositions systematically for the first time. The results were related to the strength development of the cements and the mineralogical com-position as well as the moisture of the used clays. Compared to an OPC (CEM I 42.5), both the CO2 and energy saving potentials for the production of ternary KSQ cements are between 25 and 55 % respectively, depending on the cement composition.

Магистерская диссертация посвящена разработке программного обеспечения интеллектуальной системы анализа температуры холодильников системы охлаждения доменной печи. В ходе работы рассмотрены основные этапы реализации программного модуля: анализ предметной области, функциональное моделирование, проектирование и программная реализация web-приложения. Разработанная система предоставляет пользователю возможность отображения данных о температуре в графическом и табличном виде, а также проведение анализа и прогнозирования температуры тела холодильника в доменной печи. Она позволяет оперативно мониторить и контролировать температурные показатели, что является важным фактором для обеспечения эффективности и надежности работы печи. Научная новизна полученных в работе результатов заключается в разработке методов эффективной организации, ведения процесса разработки и сопровождения специализированного информационного, алгоритмического и программного обеспечения, включая базу данных доменного цеха и пользовательское приложение системы интеллектуального анализа температуры холодильников системы охлаждения доменной печи: использование гибкой методологии разработки (Agile, SCRUM) и таск-трекера Microsoft Azure DevOps для ведения проекта, взаимодействия с заказчиком во время разработки, отслеживания ошибок, визуального отображения задач и мониторинга процесса их выполнения; функциональное моделирование процессов и подсистем для реализации web-приложения подготовки технического отчета доменного цеха на основе методологии IDEF0 и средства реализации Ramus Educational; использование методики коллективного владения программным кодом на основе сервиса (удаленного репозитория) GitHub; применение методов машинного обучения для реализации алгоритма прогнозирования температуры холодильников системы охлаждения доменной печи. Практическая значимость результатов заключается в том, что разработанное программное обеспечение позволит: программное обеспечение позволит сэкономить время на получение, хранение, обработку данных, что положительно скажется на эффективности работы доменного производства, поможет снизить риск возникновения аварийных ситуаций и неплановых остановок доменных печей; специалистам отдела сопровождения информационных систем снизить трудозатраты на сопровождение, совершенствование и развитие системы с учетом пожеланий пользователей. Результаты работы могут быть использованы также в учебном процессе для обучения бакалавров и магистрантов по направлению «Информационные системы и технологии». Результаты работы представлены и обсуждены на международных и всероссийских конференциях: X, XI Всероссийских научно-практических конференциях студентов, аспирантов и молодых учёных «Теплотехника и информатика в образовании, науке и производстве» (ТИМ’2022, ТИМ’2023) с международным участием (г. Екатеринбург, УрФУ, 2022, 2023); Всероссийской научно-практической конференции (с международным участием) «Системы автоматизации (в образовании, науке и производстве)» AS’2022 (г. Новокузнецк, СибГИУ, 2022); международной научно-технической конференции «Состояние и перспективы развития электро и теплотехнологии» XXII Бенардосовские чтения (г. Иваново, ИГЭУ, 2023). / The master's thesis is devoted to the development of software for an intelligent system for analyzing the temperature of refrigerators in the blast furnace cooling system. In the course of the work, the main stages of the implementation of the software module were considered: domain analysis, functional modeling, design and software implementation of a web application. The developed system provides the user with the ability to display temperature data in graphical and tabular form, as well as to analyze and predict the body temperature of the refrigerator in the blast furnace. It allows you to quickly monitor and control temperature indicators, which is an important factor for ensuring the efficiency and reliability of the furnace. The scientific novelty of the results obtained in the work lies in the development of methods for the effective organization, management of the development process and maintenance of specialized information, algorithmic and software, including the database of the blast furnace shop and the user application of the system for intelligent temperature analysis of the refrigerators of the blast furnace cooling system: − use of flexible development methodology (Agile, SCRUM) and the Microsoft Azure DevOps task tracker for project management, interaction with the customer during development, tracking errors, visual display of tasks and monitoring the progress of their implementation; − functional modeling of processes and subsystems for the implementation of a web application for preparing a technical report for a blast furnace shop based on the IDEF0 methodology and the Ramus Educational implementation tool; − use of the methodology of collective ownership of program code based on the service (remote repository) GitHub; − application of machine learning methods to implement an algorithm for predicting the temperature of refrigerators in the blast furnace cooling system. The practical significance of the results lies in the fact that the developed software will allow: − the software will save time for receiving, storing, processing data, which will have a positive impact on the efficiency of blast-furnace production, help reduce the risk of emergencies and unscheduled shutdowns of blast furnaces; - specialists of the information systems maintenance department to reduce labor costs for maintenance, improvement and development of the system, taking into account the wishes of users. The results of the work can also be used in the educational process for training bachelors and masters in the direction of "Information Systems and Technologies". The results of the work are presented and discussed at international and all-Russian conferences: X, XI All-Russian scientific and practical conferences of students, graduate students and young scientists "Heat engineering and informatics in education, science and production" (TIM'2022, TIM'2023) with international participation (Ekaterinburg, UrFU, 2022, 2023); All-Russian scientific and practical conference (with international participation) "Automation systems (in education, science and production)" AS'2022 (Novokuznetsk, SibGIU, 2022); International Scientific and Technical Conference "Status and Prospects for the Development of Electrical and Thermal Technologies" XXII Benardos Readings (Ivanovo, ISPU, 2023).