Metso says it is investing €8 million ($8.7m) to build a “state-of-the-art” direct reduced iron smelting furnace pilot facility, in Pori, Finland. This will allow customer-specific pilot-scale testing to demonstrate the applicability and results of industrial-scale DRI smelting with Metso’s Outotec DRI Smelting Furnace technology.
“There has been a lot of interest towards the recently launched Metso’s ‘Outotec’ DRI Smelting Furnace. It substitutes traditional blast furnaces used in iron and steel making, and enables a significant reduction of emissions, when combined with a direct reduction plant,” Metso vice president, smelting Jyrki Makkonen says in a note sent to Kallanish.
“The investment into the DRI Smelting Furnace pilot facility supports the rapidly increasing customer demand for reliable testing when planning a transition to emissions-free smelting. With the pilot facility, we can reliably test various types of customer materials for industrial scale-up,” notes Metso director, smelting research & development Mari Lindgren.
Construction of the facility has started, with first tests and campaigns scheduled in the latter part of 2024.
The new high-capacity Outotec DRI Smelting Furnace, launched in 2022, is one of Metso’s breakthrough technologies. Combined with a direct reduction plant, it substitutes traditional blast furnaces in the production of hot metal, reducing CO2 emissions with minimal changes to the rest of the steel plant. The furnace can be integrated with Metso’s hydrogen-based “Circored” process or other direct reduction processes.
Adam Smith Poland
