FINEX®: Innovative and Environmentally Friendly Ironmaking

The FINEX® process is a smelting-reduction process for the cost-effective and environmentally responsible production of hot metal from iron ore and coal. In the FINEX® process, iron ore fines of sinter feed quality are fed directly into a series of fluidized bed reactors, where they are heated and reduced to direct reduced iron (DRI) using a reducing gas generated from coal gasification in a melter gasifier located next to the fluidized bed cascade. The DRI fines are then compacted and transferred, while still hot, into the melter gasifier for smelting. The liquid hot metal tapped from the bottom of the melter gasifier is equal in quality to hot metal produced by 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, such as iron ore fines and non-coking coal, result in lower capital and operating costs compared to the blast furnace route. A FINEX® plant with a capacity of 1.5 million tons per year produces hot metal more cost-effectively than a modern blast furnace with a capacity of three million tons per year. The capital expenditure and operating expenditure of a FINEX® plant, including the costs of oxygen and power, are approximately 10 percent and 10 to 15 percent lower, respectively, than those of the blast furnace route.

Environmental Safety

Direct charging of iron ore and coal is much more environmentally friendly than the blast furnace route, which typically consists of a coke oven plant, a sinter plant, and the blast furnace. 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 uses.