FINEX®: Innovative and Environmentally Friendly Ironmaking

In the FINEX® process, iron ore fines (sinter feed size) are fed directly to the top of a cascade of fluidized bed reactors, where they are heated and reduced to direct reduced iron (DRI) using a reducing gas derived from coal gasification in the melter gasifier. The direct reduced iron (DRI) fines are compacted in hot condition, transferred to a charging hopper, and then charged into the melter gasifier, where smelting occurs. The tapped product—liquid hot metal—is of equal quality to the hot metal produced in a blast furnace or COREX® plant.

Advantages of FINEX®

Economic Benefits

The unique characteristics of the FINEX® process and its ability to use low-cost raw materials—i.e., iron ore fines and low-cost coal—mean that production costs are significantly lower than the blast furnace route. A 1.5 million tons per year FINEX® plant produces hot metal more cost-effectively than a modern three million tons per year blast furnace. The CAPEX and OPEX of a FINEX® plant, including the cost of oxygen and power, are approximately 10% and 10–15% less compared to the blast furnace route, respectively.

Environmental Safety

Direct charging of iron ore and coal is much more environmentally friendly than the blast furnace route, which consists of a coke oven plant, a sinter plant, and the blast furnace itself. FINEX® already complies with the most stringent environmental legislation in the ironmaking industry. The FINEX® process also offers the ability to produce high-purity CO₂ for sequestration or other economic uses. The export gas contains low nitrogen levels because high-purity oxygen is used in the melter gasifier to gasify coal. This feature enables the scrubbing of high concentrations of CO₂ from the recycled gas.