This paper describes the model-based control and estimation techniques implemented on the hot blast stoves for the number 7 blast furnace at the Ispat Inland Steel facility in East Chicago, IN. The process model is a detailed heat transfer model of this thermal regenerator system used as part of a predictive control scheme to determine the minimum amount of fuel necessary to achieve the energy requirements. Batch nonlinear least squares estimation is used to update the predicted temperature profile and heat transfer coefficients. These estimated parameters are then used by the model-based controller to determine the minimum fuel required for the subsequent regenerative cycle.