FINEX^® as an environmentally sustainable ironmaking process

Abstract

FINEX® is an alternative ironmaking process to the blast furnace route. As the core facilities in Pohang Steel Works, two commercial FINEX® plants have already produced over 25 million tons of hot metal. For more than 10 years of operation and continual improvements, including an energy recovery system, binders for coal briquettes as well as the steel grid system in FBR (Fluidized-Bed Reactor), such a substantial improvement have been achieved on the overall cost and environmental footprint. The potential for large-scale CO 2 removal system working as carbon capture and utilization in the process further enhances the environmental potential of the process. In this paper, the brief history and overall process of the FINEX® were introduced especially focusing on the key technologies.

Wall reduction and heat transfer characteristics of captured iron ore particles during flash ironmaking process

“…Due to the gas being continuously introduced into the chamber, the primary flow is considered to be pure CO gas. Therefore, c b (CO) = 1250 g/m 3 , c b (CO 2 ) = 0 g/m 3 . Then, the concentrations of CO and CO 2 on the particle interface can be calculated by the following equation.…”

“…However, the drawbacks of blast furnaces, such as high CO 2 emissions, complex processes, and dependence on coke, have attracted more attention [2]. To solve these issues, alternative ironmaking processes, such as FINEX [3], HIsarna [4], and Flash Ironmaking Technology (FIT) [5], which can directly use iron ore particles as raw materials, are gradually gaining popularity. In particular, FIT was expected to reduce CO 2 emissions by 96% and energy consumption by 60% compared to blast furnace ironmaking [6].…”

Study on the Bath Smelting Reduction Reaction and Mechanism of Iron Ore: A Review

“…Furnace and melter-gasifier Plump/pellet 1989 VAI South Africa, India, China Finex [9][10][11][12] cesses and fundamental parameters globally are shown in Table 1. Except for Corex and Finex, where the final reduction is in a melter-gasifier, more processes have their final reduction in a smelting reduction vessel (SRV), such as HIsmelt, Hisarna, and Romelt.…”

“…As the main raw material for smelting master batches of stainless steel, chromite is usually added to carbonaceous iron to increase the chromium content of the molten iron. Within iron containing [C] and [Si], the smelting reduction reaction of chromite proceeds mainly through Reactions (10) and (11) [48].…”

Recent progress and development of ironmaking in China as of 2019: an overview

“…Steelmakers are trying to develop alternative ironmaking processes to reduce iron ores directly with non-coking coals due to concerns over the limited resources, the high cost of coking coals, and the environmental impacts of coking and sinter plants [19][20][21][22][23]. China has now made great progress in direct reduction and smelting reduction, such as rotary kiln, tunnel kiln, rotary hearth furnace, COSRED, CSDRI, COREX, HIsmelt.…”