Posco is testing hydrogen-based iron production with sinter

South Korean steelmaker Posco has signed a cooperation agreement with Primetals for a demonstration plant for low-carbon iron production. The hydrogen-based direct reduction process allows the direct use of sinter feed.

Based on a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed in 2022, Posco and Primetals are now realizing the plant at Posco’s premises in Pohang, South Korea. A core aim of the plant is to test and verify certain details of the production process while determining the most cost-effective process parameters. According to Primetals, an hydrogen-based direct reduction technologies based on the Hyrex process will allow steel producers to replace carbon-intensive blast furnaces.
Hyrex is a new process that combines the Finex direct reduction process with an electric smelting furnace (ESF) to produce liquid hot metal. Posco and Primetals started developing Finex in 1992. The Finex process charges iron ore and uses a cascade of fluidized-bed reactors to produce direct-reduced iron (DRI). While the Finex process utilized reduction gas from coal gasification, Hyrex uses hydrogen as reduction gas. In combination with an ESF, hot direct-reduced iron is transferred for the final reduction process, melting, carburization, and slag formation, to produce liquid hot metal of similar quality to that stemming from blast furnaces, but with significantly reduced carbon emissions.
The Hyrex industrial demonstration plant will consist of an ore dryer, fluidized-bed reactors arranged in a cascade, a hot DRI transport system, the ESF, a dedusting system, metal tapping, and slag granulation as key equipment. Seeking to replace blast furnace based ironmaking, Hyrex can be fed with sinter feed, removing the environmentally intensive sintering process and the need for a coke plant. Hyrex technology is suitable for more than 50 percent of globally available iron ore grades.
Source: Primetals Technologies