Australian iron ore miner Fortescue Metals Group has announced that it has signed a memorandum of understanding with UK-based plantmaker Primetals Technologies and Austrian steelmaker Voestalpine to jointly design and build a plant for net-zero-emission ironmaking at Voestalpine’s plant in Linz.
According to the statement, the new ironmaking process will be based on Primetals Technologies’ HYFOR and Smelter solutions. HYFOR is the world’s first direct reduction process for iron ore fines that will not require any agglomeration steps, like sintering or pelletizing. The Smelter technology is a furnace powered by electrical energy. It is used for melting and final reduction of direct reduced iron based on lower-grade iron ores.
Fortescue will provide knowledge about iron ore quality for the new project. In addition, Fortescue will supply various iron ores for the new plant.
Voestalpine aims to achieve carbon-neutral steel production by 2050.