Metso Campaigns Ferrous & Heat Transfer Newsletter The change for the better, even in sintering?
Dec 8, 2023

The change for the better, even in sintering?

Andreas Meier-Hedde
Andreas Meier-Hedde
andreas.meier-hedde@metso.com
Figure 1: The EOS-Hood covers the entire sinter strand.
Figure 1: The EOS-Hood covers the entire sinter strand.

The world is actively seeking better ways to work without harming the environment In the global steel industry around 70% of the yearly produced crude steel is still produced via the traditional blast furnace route. The fundamentals of this blast furnace route are based on (a) processing an iron bearing material/burden (like CO2) intense sinter and (b) burning a fossil carbon carrier (like coke) as an energy source. Both play a large role in a very challenging fight against global CO2 emissions within the steel industry.

Metso has recently started operation of the first Emission Optimized Sintering process, a so-called EOS Sinter Plant, in India, supporting the “green sinter” movement from Metso. The clear focus of this sinter off-gas recirculation upgrade is emission reduction as well as energy efficiency increase. With this upgraded product, the sinter plant operatores achieve fossil fuel savings as well as substantially reduce the sinter off-gas. This reduces the total emissions of the sinter plant (not only CO2), whilst also providing significant savings in every day operational costs.
The Optimus Sinter software observes the sintering process continuously.
The Optimus Sinter software observes the sintering process continuously.

A perfect match to the EOS upgrade is Metso's digital product Optimus Sinter, which is a holistic sinter plant optimizer taking care of almost all day-to-day operational challenges, like deciding the required sinter mix composition, achieving a proper burn-through-temperature, maintaining the desired sinter product quality parameters etc. With Optimus Sinter as a virtual 24/7 world-class sinter plant operator, the production rate can be increased, the energy consumption can be further reduced and finally the efficiency of plant operation is lifted to another level.

Considering the large contribution of the sintering route on the total emissions within the steel industry, it is a must that we take the improvement process towards the better. And our EOS success is just the proof that change for the better can be achieved in such a challenging environment, even in sintering!

 

For more information, please contact Andreas Meier-Hedde, Product Manager – Sintering Technology at Metso/ FHT, andreas.meier-hedde@metso.com