"It takes a tremendous amount of power to run an EAF, and we are looking for new ways to lower that energy footprint,” said Ronald O’Malley, director of the university’s Kent D. Peaslee Steel Manufacturing Research Center and an AIST past president. 
“We are working toward implementing a next-generation dynamic control system for the EAF so we can optimize EAF operating efficiency under changing input conditions using new sensor systems.”

The U.S. Department of Energy grant represents the second round of funding for a broader, three-phase project. 

For the first phase, the research team assessed the current systems in place at two partner steel plants, Big River Steel in Osceola, Ark., and CMC Steel Alabama in Birmingham, Ala., and developed the conceptual framework for the future aspects of the project.

In the second phase, the new fiber optic sensing technologies will be implemented in the plants along with new control systems, directed energy input and EAF slag property models.

“In basic terms, the fiber optic system will provide a whole new set of tools for EAF optimization,” O’Malley said. “We will be able to better examine the condition of the EAF and the impact of operating variables on the process in real time to provide feedback to the operator and improve energy efficiency, operating cost and yield.”