Hydro­gen Reduc­tion of domes­tic iron ores

In this project, sci­en­tif­ic research and test­ing work will be exe­cut­ed for devel­op­ing of nov­el, sus­tain­able elec­tric­i­ty-based and hydro­gen reduc­tion-based process flow sheet for refin­ing of iron and vana­di­um pen­tox­ide from vana­di­um con­tain­ing iron ore con­cen­trates hav­ing vary­ing tita­ni­um con­tents. High-tita­ni­um Mus­tavaara and low-tita­ni­um Otan­mä­ki con­cen­trates are used as case-stud­ies. The pur­pose is to cre­ate fun­da­men­tal phe­nom­e­na-lev­el knowl­edge about hydro­gen-based reduc­tion and elec­tric arc fur­nace smelt­ing of tita­ni­um and vana­di­um con­tain iron ore (mag­netite) con­cen­trates, and extrac­tion of vana­di­um from the slag. 

The main achieve­ment of the project is the cre­ation of new know-how, and re-think­ing of the tech­ni­cal mat­ters relat­ed to hydro­gen reduc­tion and elec­tri­cal melt­ing tak­ing into account the par­tic­u­lar prop­er­ties of domes­tic iron ores and recov­ery of valu­able met­als (e.g. Vana­di­um). The project strength­ens the research know-how on steel­mak­ing at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Oulu which impacts great­ly on attrac­tive­ness and vis­i­bil­i­ty of the uni­ver­si­ty since hydro­gen and elec­tric­i­ty based steel­mak­ing is of great inter­est glob­al­ly due to its great mit­i­ga­tion poten­tial of CO2 emis­sions.

In the long-term, the project can have a big influ­ence on local econ­o­my. It is esti­mat­ed that this nov­el flow sheet will cre­ate appr. 500–600 new direct jobs in the mines, con­cen­tra­tor, hydro­gen reduc­tion plant, smelter, and vana­di­um extrac­tion plant. Extra work force is need­ed for relat­ed trans­porta­tion and main­te­nance oper­a­tions. In the unsta­ble world uti­liz­ing domes­tic iron ores as a raw mate­r­i­al in steel indus­try would also improve the secu­ri­ty of sup­ply.

The steer­ing group of the project includes mem­bers from steel and min­ing indus­try for whom the results of the project can be very sig­nif­i­cant in the future.

The project is co-fund­ed by the Euro­pean Union.