abstract
- Cupola furnaces rank among the oldest melting technologies in steelmaking, relying predominantly on coke as the primary fuel. In this study, a detailed energy analysis was conducted on a cupola unit used for gray and ductile iron production. Energy and thermal analyses were performed on the furnace to improve efficiency and minimize energy losses in the system. Computational simulations with an equation solving program quantified an exhaust-gas heat loss of 1.5 Gigajoules. To recover this waste heat, a heat exchanger was proposed to preheat the incoming combustion air. Numerical simulations of the modified system demonstrate a 3% increase in overall furnace efficiency and a reduction of about ten percent of coke per charge, equivalent to 716 kg per day for the unit under evaluation. © 2025 by the authors.