As part of the ongoing drive to improve process capability and reduce operating cost, BlueScope steel in late 2009 upgraded the sintering capacity at its Port Kembla steelworks.

The business case for upgrading the sinterplant was based on replacing high cost imported pellets with an increased amount of locally sintered iron ore. However the need to substantially re-engineer the plant presented the opportunity to build a lower carbon footprint into the sinterplant and in turn the Port Kembla steelworks as a whole.

The paper outlines the scope of the sinterplant upgrade and how newer technologies applied to strand feeding and ignition can enable the greenhouse impact of sintering to be reduced while increasing sinter productivity. These can be harnessed to produce sinter with reduced slag volume which in turn permits decreased fuel requirement at the blast furnaces; the chief source of CO2 emissions on a steel plant.

Following the commissioning of the upgraded sinterplant there has been an ongoing challenge to achieve design sinter production rates. The role iron ore quality has played on post upgrade sinter productivity and carbon footprint is discussed. Possible technologies that could be applied to further reduce sinterplant greenhouse emissions in the longer term are also outlined.