Last month, worldsteel published a story on FinalStraw, a startup based in Santa Barbara, United States. With a simple but ambitious mission to remove single-use plastics from planet Earth, the creators of FinalStraw pioneered the project last year hoping to secure $12,500 in funding. Instead, they collected $1,894,878 with 38,443 backers who gladly said yes to paying more than $20 dollars to replace single-use plastic straws.

So it began – the birth of a sleek stainless steel straw that is durable, collapsible and therefore, portable. Goodbye to plastic and hello stainless steel. #SteelSaveEarth – POSCO Newsroom reports.

l With Plastic Straws, Our Oceans Writhes in Pain

Americans use 500 million straws every single day. That’s 1.6 straws per person every day, enough to wrap around the earth 2.5 times, and because they’re so lightweight, straws blow into waterways, where they head out to sea and harm wildlife.

▲ Plastic straws can drift in the ocean for years and harm marine life (Image source: Ocean Pledge)

The United Nations Environment Programme reports that only 9% of the plastic waste ever generated has been recycled, and only 14% is collected for recycling now. The global recycling rate for plastics is already abysmal, and for plastic straws, it’s even worse. They are too small to be picked up by the waste management system. Plastic straws can’t be recycled, and they don’t decompose – they pollute our land and oceans.

l Plastic Ban Goes Viral

For years, environmentalists, as well as private industry stakeholders, had been aware of the grave dangers single-use plastics pose to the planet, so they have been implementing various measures to spread awareness and suggest alternatives. POSCO’s #SteelSaveEarth campaign is one such example.

In 2015, a video from Costa Rica went viral – a group of scientists was helping a sea turtle with a wrinkled brownish object stuck up in his nostril, which turned out to be a 10-centimeter plastic straw! The video of sea turtle writhing in pain resonated with the people across the globe.

▲ A scientist helping a sea turtle with a 10-centimeter plastic straw stuck up in his nostril (Image Source: Sea Turtle Biologist)

Since then, the ban has rapidly spread worldwide. Last year, Seattle became the first US city to ban plastic straws and utensils. The EU has agreed to ban single-use plastics by 2021, and Taiwan is also following the suit. According to a UN report, most countries are taking plastic pollution very seriously – 127 countries had already implemented some type of policy regulating plastic use by July 2018.

Global coffee giant Starbucks will phase out plastic straws by 2020 worldwide – and McDonald is also ditching plastic straws.

l Out Goes Plastics, In Comes Stainless Steel

Enter stainless steel FinalStraw.

When FinalStraw first launched on Kickstarter last year, it instantly made headlines – the company smashed past its initial goal. The 38,443 backers pledging all together $1,894,878 sent a clear message – the consumers wanted to end single-use plastic straws, and there was a hunger for the plastic alternative, and in this case, it was found in the stainless steel FinalStraw.

▲ Image Source: FinalStraw

l One Stainless Steel FinalStraw to Replace 584 Plastic Straws

Certainly, FinalStraw is not the first reusable straws. There are alternatives out there like paper, bamboo, glass, silicone, etc. FinalStraw is not even the first stainless steel straw – what makes it different from any other contenders already out there?

It is the world’s first reusable and collapsible straw – which makes it extremely portable. It’s collapsible, how? The stainless steel straw divides into 4 pieces and folds neatly into the container. When it comes out of the container, it assembles like a magic wand – the magnetic nature of steel not only boosts steel’s recyclability, it obviously plays a big role here too.

Because it’s made of stainless steel, the straw is also extremely durable. The creators say the straw can last up to 16 years. One stainless steel FinalStraw can save 584 plastic straws from entering our oceans every year. With the stainless steel FinalStraw, the creators dream of achieving plastic straw-free Earth by 2032!

▲ Image source: Final Straw

l Life Cycle Thinking Gives Birth to FinalStraw

The FinalStraw CEO Emma Rose Cohen spent years in the Pollution Prevention Department at Los Alamos National Laboratory, working to reduce the Lab’s waste. The genesis of the stainless steel straw started as her thesis project when she was a master’s student studying environmental management and sustainability at Harvard.

Environmentally conscious for years, Cohen had not been using plastic straws for years but hated to-go container box. That was the starting point of her thesis.

▲ Image source: Final Straw and the quote sourced from ‘The Startup Story‘

“Every time I go out to eat, I always got something to go, and I hated the to-go containers because you never know what you’re getting. You can get styrofoam, plastic, or aluminum, all these different things. Once I get home, I put my food on a plate, and throw them all away. So my idea was first to look at the life cycle assessment of reusable containers – how many times these reusable containers need to be used in order to hit the break-even point with the single-use container. And secondly, whether I could design something that would be convenient to carry, easy to use, and simple to clean. So I designed a collapsible to-go container .”

So the journey of FinalStraw began – from the life cycle assessment of reusable containers.

l Stainless Steel Straw to Save the Planet

Is $20 too much to create a plastic-free future? Thousands of FinalStraw backers say it might just be the cheapest ticket to step away from plastic pollution. FinalStraw just launched #PlasticFreeJuly campaign encouraging their followers to make small changes by refusing the single-use plastics we use every day.

▲ Image source: Final Straw

Meanwhile, alongside the creative and innovative entrepreneurs like the FinalStraw creators, POSCO will continue the journey to help build a sustainable future with the clean steel initiative, like #SteelSaveEarth.

POSCO, at the forefront of assessing the impact of steel in its full life cycle, has been making a sizable investment to achieve ‘clean steel’ since its establishment. Yoon-Gih Ahn, the Senior Vice President of Energy and Environment Business Office at POSCO offers valuable insights for the company and the steel industry. POSCO Newsroom reports.

l Sustainable circular economy and steel products

We are now entering an era of “sustainable competitiveness” defined as looking beyond simple economic performance to pursue environmental soundness and balance with the social aspect. Considerable economic research, including Wernerfelt, B. (1984), M.E. Porter (1996), Prahalad, C. K. (2002), Wilson, M. (2003), and Y.G. Ahn (2007), has suggested this concept as a direction for corporate competitiveness. Given the imminent depletion of the natural resources that fueled the Industrial Revolution, such as oil, coal, and gas, and growing environmental concerns regarding the use of fossil fuels, both academia and industry are paying keen attention to sustainable competitiveness as a new means for achieving competitiveness. At the 2012 World Economic Forum, economists and scholars stressed the importance of a transition by the global economy to a circular economy to address pressing environmental issues such as resource scarcity, climate change, fine dust, wastes, and toxic chemicals—the key challenges for sustainable competitiveness.

When looking at the steel industry from the perspective of sustainability and a circular economy, process and product should be considered separately. In terms of the steel-making process, steel is not free from environmental concerns such as energy scarcity, CO₂, fine dust, and wastes.

For the products, however, the drawbacks of the steel-making process can be overcome. Lightweight steel products help to reduce CO₂ and NOx emissions and improve fuel efficiency and give a tremendous opportunity to the overall industrial ecosystem and society.

Source: compiled by the author

In particular, steel has a much longer service life than other materials, so it contributes greatly to improving efficiency in a circular economy. With its high recycling rate, infinite recyclability, and relatively easy removal of impurities, steel has proven to be a key material for addressing resource scarcity.

Considering the extent of current iron ore reserves, steel can become a cornerstone for a sustainable circular economy and industrial ecosystem. Steel slag, a by-product of steelmaking, provides an alternative to cement and can be used as a fertilizer to help increase agricultural production, demonstrating how steel can stand at the center of the shift to a new industrial ecosystem.

Source: Shutterstock

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a technique used to determine the potential impacts of a product at all stages based on life cycle thinking. The global community uses this technique to identify products suitable for a circular economy. Ever since the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) adopted LCA as a global standard in the mid-1990s, it has been used for product development and marketing strategy. ISO is also discussing a new and improved global standard for a circular economy as a global standard.

Source: POSRI

Taking up the OECD’s Polluter-Pays Principle(PPP) and Process and Product Methods (PPM), the European Community adopted its Integrated Product Policy (IPP) based on life cycle thinking and life cycle assessment in 2000. Several directives and regulations have taken effect based upon the IPP, including the Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) in Electric & Electronic Equipment, Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE), End-of-Life Vehicle (ELV), and Registration, Evaluation, Authorization, and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH).

These are already being used as a basis for global and domestic regulations and will become a sticking point in future trade concerns.

Clearly, steel products will be subject to more stringent regulations. This article discusses POSCO’s preparations and measures for improving its sustainable competitiveness in the face of shifting global and domestic market conditions.

l POSCO’s Responses for a Circular Economy Era

The economic system of the future will pursue not only traditional economic profits, but also environmental soundness and social needs for sustainable growth. This requires all economic players to cooperate on dealing with environmental and social challenges. In particular, sustainability will be highly dependent on the capability to alleviate or address resource scarcity. In this process, the recyclability or eco-friendliness of resources will have a significant influence. For these reasons, POSCO has been seeking the improvement of the steel-making process, product development, and utilization of by-products from the full life cycle perspective. Considering that the steel-making process is energy-intensive and burdensome to the environment, the company has been working to enhance energy and carbon efficiency and emplace eco-friendly process technologies. It has designed high-performance lightweight steel products with improved recyclabilityand circularity. By doing so, POSCO helps to make steel-consuming industries less carbon-producing and more eco-friendly. This contributes to the overall sustainable competitiveness of all global industry. Furthermore, it undergoes third-party monitoring and supervisions (conformity assessment) to assure the sustainability of products and ensure customer trust in a society seeking low-carbon eco-friendliness.

Source: Compiled by the author

To this end, POSCO has adopted Life Cycle Thinking and Analysis as a basic methodology and been interested in the global discussion on Life Cycle Analysis since the mid-1990s. POSCO has developed the Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) database and analytics suitable for steel-making processes and products. It has also actively participated in the global discussion surrounding Life Cycle Analysis, such as Environmental Labeling (ISO
14020) and Life Cycle Assessment (ISO 14040)under ISO/TC/207. In addition, it has developed products and improved recyclability of by-products from the sustainability perspective and it has been certified by international certification bodies to ensure customer trust in the eco-friendliness of its products and by-products. POSCO has a dynamic Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) approach in place for continual improvement. It is conducting Life Cycle Thinking and Analysis from the PDCA perspective for improving circularity of products. The “Plan” phase sets the goals and scope for LCA and selects designated products.

During the “Do” phase, database is compiled for LCA. In this process, informatization by data analysis is important for interpretation of the environmental impacts from the perspective of whole life thinking.

The “Check” stage conducts Life Cycle Assessment for evaluation, and the outcomes are subject to third-party conformity assessment.

Finally, in the “Act” phase, the outcomes are reported to top management and used to take corrective action taking into account the original targets. The next plan phase is then initiated and the PDCA cycle is infinitely repeated for troubleshooting and continuous improvement.

These processes are conducted in close cooperation with the Energy and Environment Business Office, Department of Technology Management, RIST, and Marketing Department.

l POSCO products from a sustainability perspective

POSCO believes that sustainable competitiveness can be attained only when process and product are innovated in terms of eco-friendliness and recyclability. Therefore, it has spared no efforts in producing steel products offering higher performance and lighter weight. Based on whole life cycle thinking, it is applying LCA to develop products from the perspective of sustainable competitiveness and improve especially their eco-friendliness.

Representative products to which LCA was applied include advanced high strength steel (AHSS), Hyper NO electrical sheet, Giga Steel, and PosMAC. POSCO has also developed its PosMent cement with a higher slag content to improve overall resource efficiency and reduce CO2 emissions. Through the recycling of steel scrap and off-gas, it is strengthening its eco-friendliness and improving profitability. Below are details on some examples of POSCO’s preparations for a sustainable circular economy.

(1) Advanced high strength steel (AHSS) – Lighter car bodies to raise fuel efficiency
AHSS applied to gasoline vehicles reduces vehicle body weight, improving fuel efficiency and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

In close cooperation with its domestic automaker partners, POSCO begins suggesting steel products from the design stage and has developed lightweight products that enhance fuel efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

AHSS is about 10 percent lighter but more than twice as strong as conventional steel sheets for cars. A new 2016 model using more AHSS is 130 kg lighter than the 2015 model with less AHSS but boasts even higher crash performance. Annval fuel use of a vehicle is reducsd by 140ℓ CO2 emissions by 301kg and fuel costs by KRW 201,882. If Applying the Lifetime Driving Distance (LTDD), the new model can reduce fuel use per vehicle by around 2 kℓ, CO2 emissions by 4.4t CO2 and fuel costs by KRW 3 million.

(2) Hyper NO electric sheet – Reducing electricity consumption of home appliances through improved motor efficiency
Improving power efficiency in home appliances to reduce energy consumption and cut greenhouse gas emissions.

POSCO has developed a top-grade non-oriented electrical steel, Hyper NO. Hyper NO can be used in motor cores, a key component in motors that converts electric power to mechanical power. It helps to make motors more efficient and improves the energy efficiency of home appliances. Motor cores with Hyper NO minimize core losses, thereby improving the power efficiency of home appliances using compressor motors with these motor cores.

In a pilot test, a refrigerator using a motor with Hyper NO in place of a compressor motor with a conventional motor core saw its compressor motor efficiency improve by up to 1.5% and electricity use efficiency rise
by 1.2%.

If these figures were applied to the total sales for the refrigerator model, it would reduce annual electrical power consumption by 2.1 GWh and save annual electric costs of KRW 390 million.

Moreover, assuming that a high-efficiency motor with Hyper NO steel were used in all refrigerators sold in Korea, it would reduce annual electrical power consumption by 89.5 GWh and annual electric costs by KRW 16.8 billion.

(3) PosMAC and Giga Steel – Building the Life Cycle Inventory database and conducting third-party certification
Preparing for a low-carbon circular economy characterized by eco-friendliness and recycling of resources through a full life cycle database and third-party certification.

Acknowledging that the future will be characterized by a circular economy dominated by sustainable competitiveness, POSCO believes that eco-friendliness, and recyclability in particular, will become a key to product quality. The company has begun evaluating the eco-friendliness of its steel products based on whole life cycle thinking. A first for a Korean steelmaker, POSCO established the Lif Cycle Inventory database (LCI).

Since January 2018, it has been preparing for obtaining Environmental Product Declaration (EPD)4 certification at home and abroad. It has selected PosMAC5, the construction steel materials produced at the Pohang Steelworks and Giga Steel6 for automobiles produced at the Gwangyang Steelworks as its WP (World’s Premium) products.

In May 2018, it compiled quantitative environmental information on PosMAC taking into consideration the extraction of raw materials, supply, manufacture (cradle-to-gate) and recyclability. This information can be used for setting directions for reducing the environmental impact of the steel production process by considering the use of resources and energy in the whole life cycle of steel products and potential effects on climate change.

In addition, POSCO is building the environmental information on Giga Steel from the whole life cycle perspective. It plans to obtain Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) certification from an international certification body and the Korean Ministry of Environment by August 2018.

(4) PosMent – Eco-friendly cement with a higher slag content
Developing “PosMent” with a higher slag content, a by-product from the steel-making process, to strengthen the circular industry ecosystem and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Ground-granulated blast furnace slag is a sandtype slag manufactured by spraying high-pressure water jets on molten slag from a blast furnace. It has a chemical composition similar to cement. As an alternative to cement clinker,7 granulated slag is used up to 5% in a cement mixture to conserve natural resources such as limestone and reduce energy and CO2 emissions associated with cement calcination. In cooperation with RIST and POSCO E&C, POSCO developed PosMent in 2012, which has a higher slag content but demonstrates improved physical properties such as pressure resistance and strength. It can reduce CO2 emissions by up to 60% compared to conventional cement.

In 2017 alone, the company used 10.95 Mt of ground-granulated blast furnace slag for the production of cement and reduced 8.6 Mt of greenhouse gas emissions.

(5) Utilization of process off-gas – Innovative energy efficiency improvement and CO2 emissions cuts
Using off-gas created in the steel-making process to improve energy efficiency, reduce CO2 emissions, and minimize electricity costs.

POSCO collects most of the off-gas (BFG, COG, LDG, FOG) created in the steel-making process for use as a process energy source and power generation. In 2017, Pohang Steelworks and Gwangyang Steelworks self-supplied 72% of their electricity needs through energy collection equipment, off-gas generators, and LNG power generation equipment, such as Coke Dry Quenching (CDQ) and Top Gas Pressure Recovery Turbines (TRT). This figure has increased by 6%p from the generation rate of 68% in 2016.

To prepare for stricter greenhouse gas restrictions and rising electricity prices in the future, the power generation rate using off-gas will continue to increase.

l Suggestions for the future

It is an undeniable fact that the global economy is shifting toward a low-carbon and eco-friendly sustainable circular economy in order to address the potential depletion of energy resources, climate change, and air pollution. The steel industry will not be exempted from these changes in the business environment.

Although steel is a CO2-and energy-intensive industry, recently developed lightweight and high-strength steel products bolster the sustainable competitiveness of the steel industry, demonstrating that the steel industry can become a representative industry for sustainable competitiveness in a circular economy.

POSCO utilizes Life Cycle Assessment for product development. The company analyzes the recyclability and eco-friendliness of its steel products and by-products from the whole life cycle perspective. It applies the analytic outcomes to product development and processes to cut energy and CO2 emissions across the entire industrial and social ecosystems. In particular, it seeks to explore new markets by ensuring the eco-friendliness of both its products and by-products through third-party certification.

Thanks to such efforts, the steel industry can remain a staple of industry in the circular economy and POSCO will stand firmly as a sustainable, competitive company.

* This article has been reproduced from Asian Steel Watch, a bi-annual English journal specialized in the Asian steel industry. The original version Vol 5. (2016.06) can be accessed and downloaded directly from POSRI’s website here.

Last weekend at the Beautiful Mint Life Festival 2019, an annual eco-themed music festival at its tenth year, POSCO’s #SteelSaveEarth campaign continued the company’s endeavour to promote sustainability.

At POSCO’s campaign booth, shined the banner ‘#SteelSaveEarth With POSCO,’ through which the company spread messages to help curb single-use plastics and raise awareness on steel sustainability.

From initial planning and campaign execution to the final wrap up, POSCO University Student Brand Ambassador who understands their own generations better than anyone else, spearheaded the campaign activity at the Festival. The Ambassadors came up with original ideas like “Bottle Challenge,” “Steel Play Zone,” and “#SteelSaveEarth Green Photo Zone” to familiarize the public with the somewhat-distant material, steel.

Aware of the massive volume of plastic wastes produced at festivals, the Bottle Challenge program organized plastic-to-stainless-steel travel mugs activity – visitors brought plastic garbages they’ve collected at the festival in exchange for a brand new stainless steel travel mug. The program also informed the public on the proper ways of disposing plastics and raised awareness on steel as plastic alternative.

The Steel Play Zone sought to embrace visitors across generations by installing see-saw merry-go-around made of steel. Using scrap steel, visitors also had the chance to make floral tiaras and had their pictures taken at the photo booth, also made of steel.

POSCO will carry the initiative forward to promote steel sustainability and eco-friendly practices. Through obtaining official certifications like Environmental Product Declaration, the company will ensure their products are environmentally sustainable and will also roll out plans to keep their steel mills greener.

On April 22, POSCO kicked off #SteelSaveEarth campaign in commemoration of the Earth Day. Earth Day was founded in 1970 by a U.S Senator, and it has since spread across the globe, being celebrated in more than 193 countries through various coordinated events.

In the recycling value chain, recycling plastic is economically, as well as environmentally, unviable as the value of scrap plastic is constantly fluctuating. The sustainability of steel, however, is drawing attention, especially when considered from the perspective of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) which examines the environmental impacts of materials throughout their full life cycle, from raw material procurement to distribution and recycling.

#SteelSaveEarth campaign aims to raise awareness on the sustainability of steel. Through various online and offline events, POSCO also demonstrated the company’s commitment to curbing single-use plastics.

For the Instagram campaign, followers can post photos of their plastic-free lifestyle with the following hashtags: #SteelSaveEarth. To commemorate the April 22 Earth Day, POSCO will select 422 people who will receive travel mugs. These travel mugs were made of POSCO’s stainless steel and designed in collaborating with the trending Instatoon artist @inoo.ari.duri. The campaign will continue until May 15.

▲ Click on the picture to visit #SteelSaveEarth Instagram campaign

On May 11, POSCO is also holding a concert for children by incorporating with #SteelSaveEarth campaign. Children can make their own travel mugs utilizing @inoo.ari.duri‘s designs and take a photo in front of the campaign wall. POSCO will also participate in the annual sustainability-themed music festival, Beautiful Mint Life festival from May 11 to 12. On this two-day music festival, POSCO will set up a #SteelSaveEarth campaign booth where POSCO University Student Brand Ambassador will carry out various events to promote steel sustainability.

▲ POSCO is planning a concert for children in collaboration with a trending Instatoon artist. The company will also participate in the annual sustainability-themed music festival, Beautiful Mint Festival.

Meanwhile, POSCO is producing various informational materials to make the concepts of LCA and steel sustainability more accessible to the public. Recently, POSCO enlisted specific YouTubers to create informational and educational contents on steel sustainability from an LCA perspective. So far, these videos are logging more 130,000 views on the channel.

▲ POSCO produced an informational YouTube video to raise public awareness on steel sustainability.

The #SteelSaveEarth is not a one-off event – POSCO will continue the initiative to spread steel sustainability awareness and eco-friendly practices. The company will also continue the endeavor to obtain official certifications like EPD (Environmental Product Declaration) to ensure environmental sustainability for their products and roll out plans to keep their steel mills more sustainable.

The FINEX® Process

The FINEX® Process was jointly developed by POSCO in Korea and Primetals Technologies in Austria. FINEX® (along with COREX® – another smelting process developed by Primetals) is the only commercial proven alternative steelmaking process to the blast furnace (BF) route.

FINEX® is based on the direct use of iron ore fines and non-coking coal while eliminating the coke-making and sintering processes, which are most critical to the conventional blast furnace process. Combining these two decisive advantages leads to lower production costs and the reduction of environmental emissions in comparison with the conventional blast furnace route.

The FINEX® Process combines cooking plant, sinter plant, and blast furnace into a single iron making unit.

Advantages of the FINEX® Process

There are several key advantages to and differences in using the FINEX Process:

• Non-coking coal can be used directly as a reducing agent and energy source
• 100% fine ore can be directly charged to the process; no sintering or pelletising is required
• Pure oxygen can be used instead of nitrogen-rich hot blast

In addition, the FINEX® Process offers several key advantages over alternative BF methods.

• Economic benefits – low investment and operational costs due to the elimination of coking and sinter plants
• Ecological benefits – lowest process-related emission rates
• Product quality – hot metal quality suitable for ecological steel applications
• CO2 mitigation potential – pure oxygen is used
• Resource preserving – directly uses a wide range of iron ores and non-coking coals
• Beneficial by-products – generation of highly valuable export gas for various purposes (electric power generation, DRI production, or natural gas substitution)
• The FINEX® Process combines coking plant, sinter plant and blast furnace into a single iron making unit.

Creating The FINEX® Process

Starting in December 1992, POSCO and Primetals Technologies signed a cooperation agreement for the joint development of the FINEX® Process. Following initial laboratory, bench scale and pilot plant tests, the FINEX® F-0.6M Demonstration Plant, with a nominal capacity of 2,000 tons per day, was built in Pohang, Korea, and started up in May 2003. On the basis of successful results and optimization of equipment and process parameters over the past few years, POSCO developed their own independently designed program in February 2017. Designed to carry out overseas FINEX projects without relying on Primetals Technologies or other external resources, the program can be used to calculate core equipment specifications and raw material conditions. In particular, the development of the FINEX Process Design Program, one of the subprograms, has made it possible for the “heat & mass balance” to be automatically calculated when raw & fuel material conditions change.

[clickToTweet tweet=”The FINEX® Process is a cost-effective, more eco-friendly, and efficient way to make steel. ” quote=”The FINEX® Process is a cost-effective, more eco-friendly, and efficient way to make steel. ” theme=”style6″]

Efficiencies of the FINEX® Process

The FINEX® smelting reduction process is one of the most exciting iron making technologies on the market. It is distinguished by the production of high-quality liquid hot metal, on the basis of directly charged iron ore fines, and coal as the reductant and energy source. A key feature of the FINEX® Process is that iron production is carried out in two separate process steps. In a series of fluidized-bed reactors, the fine iron ore is reduced to direct reduced iron, compacted (HCI), and then transported to a melter-gasifier. Coal and coal briquettes charged to the melter-gasifier are gasified, providing the necessary energy for melting in addition to the reduction gas.

The FINEX® Process is Environmentally Friendly

The FINEX® Process and the blast furnace route are coal-based processes reducing iron ore to iron, which is subsequently melted into hot metal. In both processes, the same product is generated out of almost the same raw material. A question that arises – and not only from an economic point of view – is “how do these production routes deal with unwanted impurities?”

A certain amount of environmentally harmful substances is inevitable based on the raw material mix. Hence, the objective of a sustainable steelmaking process is to discharge these substances in an environmentally compatible condition or destroy them during the process itself. Since the FINEX® Process captures most of the pollutants in an inert state in the slag, and the released hydrocarbons are destroyed in the dome of the melter gasifier, no additional investment or operational costs are incurred for a complex gas or disproportional waste water conditioning plant.

Comparing the traditional blast furnace with the FINEX Process shows the improvements that POSCO was able to achieve to be more
environmentally friendly.

Future-Proof Emissions Figures

To bring blast furnaces in line with current and expected environmental standards, plants require significant investment. This can already be seen in the case of blast furnace dust emissions that are efficient, but costly filter systems must be installed in the sinter and coking plant. The FINEX® Process values are already far better than expected future standards. Moreover, the full development potential of the FINEX® Process has not yet been realized with respect to a further reduction of emissions.

Moving Forward with Greater Potential

Because the FINEX® Process is still being optimized, additional economic and technological benefits are anticipated. Major developments are continuously being carried out to increase efficiency. The latest achievements include breakthroughs in the field of heat recovery, dry dedusting, and outstanding performance improvements. Based on the well-proven plant concept, new process features, the highly competitive production costs, and environmental features, Primetals Technologies and POSCO are confident that the FINEX® Process will account for an increasing share of future investments in iron making facilities.

*Cover image courtesy of the World Steel Association

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