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Posco, Siemens Celebrate Six Months Operation of First Finex Plant

10/29/2007 - Posco has tapped more than 650,000 tonnes of hot metal during the first six months of operation of the first commercial Finex plant, jointly developed with Siemens Metals Technologies to operate with low-cost iron ore fines and lower environmental emissions.

Posco has tapped more than 650,000 tonnes of hot metal during the first six months of operation of the first commercial Finex plant at its Pohang Works in Korea.
 
Jointly developed by Posco and Siemens Metals Technologies, the Finex process allows for the use of low-cost iron-ore fines and non-coking coal. This reduces hot-metal production costs by approximately 15% as compared to the blast-furnace route. The process also operates with significantly reduced environmental emissions.
 
“Finex technology offers producers the potential to further reduce ironmaking costs with an environmentally compatible technology,” comments Dr. Johannes Schenk, responsible for the development of the Finex process at Siemens Metals Technologies. “With consideration to the further optimization capability of the process, Finex thus has the potential to revolutionize the iron and steel industry, similar to other breakthrough technologies such as the LD (BOF) steelmaking and continuous casting processes.”
 
Siemens and Posco jointly developed the Finex process, beginning in 1992, then developed and constructed a demonstration plant—engineered by Siemens and operated by Posco—with a nominal capacity of 800,000 tons of hot metal per year at Posco’s Pohang Plant.
 
The full-scale Finex Industrial Plant has equaled or surpassed nearly all of the production parameters achieved in the Finex Demonstration Plant. Current activities are focused on further optimizing the process with the goal to reduce the already strong hot-metal unit costs. Posco uses export gas from the Finex plant (primarily) to generate electric energy in a highly efficient combined-cycle power plant owned by Posco.
 
The first commercial Finex plant, which has an annual capacity of 1.5 million tonnes, has now operated successfully for six months. The plant achieved a nominal melting rate of 180 tons per hour was achieved within several weeks following initial start-up, and hot metal quality was satisfactory from the start of production.
 
According to Dr. Schenk, the close cooperation with Posco was the key to the success of the first commercial Finex plant. “The Finex Process is an outstanding example of a successful cooperation between a plant operator and a plant builder. Thanks to the pooling of Posco’s and Siemens’ strengths, a highly cost-competitive and environmentally friendly technology could be developed for the iron and steel industry on the basis of low-cost iron-ore fines and non-coking coal.
 
Metals Technologies (MT), a Division of the Siemens Group Industrial Solutions and Services (I&S), is one of the world's leading engineering and plant-building companies for the iron and steel industry as well as for the flat-rolling sector of the aluminum industry and for open-cast mining. MT, which was created from the integration of Voest-Alpine Industrieanlagenbau, Linz/Austria and the electrical engineering product business and automation solutions of Siemens, provides a comprehensive range of supplies and services for all related technological processes and integrated automation solutions for the entire life-cycle of metallurgical plants.
 
The Siemens Industrial Solutions and Services Group (I&S) is the integrator of systems and solutions for industrial and infrastructure facilities and global service provider for the plant and projects business covering planning, installation, operation and the entire life cycle. I&S uses its own products and systems and process technologies in order to enhance productivity and improve competitiveness of companies in the sectors of metallurgy, water treatment, pulp and paper, oil and gas, marine engineering, open-cast mining, airport logistics, postal automation, intelligent traffic systems and industrial services. In fiscal 2006 (to September 30) I&S employed a total of 36,200 people worldwide and achieved total sales of EUR 8.819 billion, according to U.S. GAAP.