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FINES RECYCLING PLANTCOLD BRIQUETTING OF FERROUS
MATERIALS FOR REUSE IN THE HBI
MIDREX PROCESSVOESTALPINE, TEXAS, USA

primetals.com

VOESTALPINE TEXAS
LLC., USA
2.0 MTPY HBI PLANT FINES RECYCLING
PLANT

MAIN BENEFITS• Recycling of pellet fines, sludge and dust
generated in the plant and charging directly
back into the main process plant as raw
material substitute• Saving of raw materials by partiallysubstituting pellets with the ferrous briquettes
produced in the fines recycling plant• Avoid dumping costs and transport of byproducts• Semi automatic operation, minimizing manual
operation and transport of materials• Low manpower requirements for operating
the plant

3D Model view of voestalpine Fines Recycling Plant

Primetals Technolgies and voestalpine Texas LLC.
collaborated and developed a project of a Fines Recycling
Plant to be installed at the voestalpine HBI plant in Corpus
Christi, Texas, USA.
The pellet fines, dusts and sludge generated in the Midrex
process are briquetted in the plant and charged directly tothe HBI plant as pellet substitute.
After 15 month of project execution the plant is inoperation since early 2017.

SludgeDryingBinder

SOLUTIONSSCOPE OF SUPPLYPLANT DATA

The by-product fines, with an average iron content definedby the process are collected directly in and at the HBI
plant complex and utilized in the cold briquetting plant
located centrally within the plant complex. The pellet fines
generated at the screens are collected in an intermediatestorage silo and transported to the briquetting plant,
without any additional handling. The dewatered sludge
generated in the process is also transferred to thebriquetting plant located next to the water treatmentplant. In the Fines Recycling Plant the mixture of the byproducts is briquetted using an inorganic binder and after
a short curing time the briquettes are added directly tothe charging conveyor to the HBI plant as a raw material
substitute.

Summarized, the scope of work of Primetals
Technologies consists mainly of the following:

Fines Recycling Plant

Basic engineering and process know how Preparationof technical inquiry documents Supply of electrical andautomation equipment and software Advisory services
for start-up and commissioning.
Procurement, civil works and erection were done byvoestalpine Texas.

Pellet fines, sludge, miscellaneous
dust, HBI chips and fines
Design capacity (briquettes)

approx. 160,000 t/a24.6 t/h

Binder system

Inorganic binder

Briquette size

approx. 5 ccm

Ore Fines / Dust

MixingBriquetting

Water<5% H2O

Returnmaterial

Screening
Curing / Storage

Typical process-flow of oxide briquetting

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