In order to improve present iron are agglomeration processes drastically and correspond to the future trend of iron are resources suitably, a new agglomeration process named the Hybrid Pelletized Sinter process was studied. On the basis of the fundamental study and the semi-commercial plant trial, a commercial plant of the HPS process with annual capacity of 6 million tons was constructed by remodeling the No. 5 Sinter Plant in Fukuyama Steel Works, NKK. Through the long term operation using a large amount of high grade fine ores, the superiority of the process was confirmed in both productivity and properties of the products. According to the evaluation of balst furnace operation charging the products, reduction of the fuel consumption was also achieved by about 12 kg/t due to their improved properties.
