By acquiring selected Metso business units and technologies located in Germany, India, China and Australia, SMS group strengthens and expands its position as a leading full-line supplier for sustainable metallurgy. The acquisition enables them to deliver customised solutions to accelerate the industry’s transition to low emission iron and steel making, adaptable to any site conditions, ore and energy profiles, or regulatory regimes.

By integrating agglomeration technologies for travelling grate pelletising, sintering and CFB (Circulating Fluid Bed) calcination, SMS group broadens its upstream process offering and strengthens its position for sustainable metallurgy and direct reduction routes. Iron ore agglomeration is essential for producing the feedstock required by shaft furnace direct reduction processes as well as conventional iron making. Customers gain a single source partner for end to end solutions, from raw material processing to finished product systems including high efficiency agglomeration technologies that combine flexible feed handling, advanced heat recovery and combustion technology, and robust automation.

“As a driving force in decarbonisation, SMS and our new team members from Metso merge their research, process expertise and service business. We accelerate scalable, cost effective and sustainable processes for iron and steel making. The collaborative spirit of our experts will enable targeted and competitive innovation,” says Thomas Hansmann, CTO of SMS group.

SMS group is leveraging Metso’s “Circored” technology to create a unique hydrogen-based direct reduction process for green ironmaking. This approach combines fluidised-bed reduction from “Circored” with SMS group’s established Open Bath Furnace technology, forming a two-stage reduction process. Unlike conventional direct reduction plants that rely on high grade pellets with high Fe-content and specific physical properties entailing complex, energy intensive preprocessing, the “Circored OBF” route accepts iron ore fines with lower Fe concentration, reducing preparation needs and increasing feedstock flexibility and cost advantages.

Alongside integrating new technologies, SMS group and the integrated Metso teams offer a comprehensive service portfolio for travelling grate and straight grate pelletising, sintering, alumina calcination and primary metallurgy. Customers will benefit from SMS group’s proven expertise in field services, maintenance, repairs and plant modernisations, supported by an extensive global service network to ensure fast response, optimised uptime and full lifecycle support.

www.sms-group.com