The Operation of Contemporary Blast Furnaces

Yuncai Liu(1932-2019), graduated with a degree in Engineering from Beijing Institute of Iron and Steel Technology (now the University of Science and Technology Beijing) in 1956. In the same year, he started at Capital Iron and Steel Company (now Shougang Group, Beijing), successively working as an Ironmaking Technician, Engineer, Vice Director of the ironmaking plant, Ironworks Director and Deputy Chief Engineer. After retiring from Shougang Group, Liu became an Adjunct Professor at the University of Science and Technology Beijing. Engaged in iron production and research for more than 60 years, Professor Liu has contributed many innovations concerning the theory and practice of blast furnace burden distribution, and proposed a method for calculating the distribution of burden that has since become widely used. He is also the author of The Law of Blast Furnace Burden Distribution (First Edition–Fourth Edition). In the 1960s, while in charge of Shougang’s coal injection smelting group, he successfully developed the industrialized application of blast furnace coal injection technology, as a result of which the coal injection rate reached the highest level in the world at that time. In addition, Professor Liu has conducted systematic research on intensified smelting and consumption reduction and been responsible for significant advances in the context of blast furnace accidents and treatments. He has published more than thirty papers on blast furnace ironmaking.