Travelling Grate Technology

Ansteel Group was the first large-scale steel joint enterprise and the earliest built steel production base in New China. It has constructed nine major production bases nationwide, with a production capacity of 53 million tons of iron, 63 million tons of steel, 40,000 tons of vanadium products, and 500,000 tons of titanium products.

Continuing to advance the upgrading and transformation of existing production lines, Ansteel Group Mining Co., Ltd., East Anshan Sintering Plant plans to build a "world-class, domestically leading" new 4 million tons/year belt sintering pellet production line, producing high-quality alkaline pellets using low-silicon, high-grade iron concentrate materials obtained through beneficiation. Sinosteel Equpment & Engineering Co., Ltd. (Sinosteel MECC), with its independently patented and internationally leading travelling grate pelletizing technology, as well as a comprehensive project management system and EPCO full lifecycle service capabilities, stood out in a competitive public bidding process and successfully won the bid for the 4 million tons/year travelling grate pelletizing project on EPCO basis.

The project scope includes the entire travelling grate pelletizing process from raw material acceptance, storage and transportation to finished product storage and transportation, as well as supporting flue gas treatment systems such as desulfurization and denitrification and auxiliary facilities. Adopting the EPCO construction and operation mode, Sinosteel MECC is responsible for the entire construction process from detailed survey, design, procurement, and construction to delivery, as well as 10 years of operation services after the project completion.


Sinosteel MECC, with keen industry insights, has recognized the changing trend in blast furnace burden structure and foresaw the future of the travelling grate pelletizing market and technology. Driven by innovation, the company, through persistent R&D investments, has pioneered the complete domestic belt sintering pellet technology and equipment technology system.

Having focused on the pellet field for over two decades, Sinosteel MECC has become the only enterprise in China with independent technology and equipment for belt sintering pellet, possessing a 10-80 million tons belt sintering pellet technology and equipment matching capability. It can provide customers with a stable, efficient, green, low-carbon, and digitally intelligent system solution covering engineering design, core equipment design and manufacturing, process software package, post-commissioning operation services, process guidance, and spare parts supply throughout the entire chain.

Furthermore, Sinosteel MECC has built an "EPCMO" travelling grate pelletizing digital ecosystem from digital design, intelligent construction, construction progress management, big data decision-making and management to smart operation. Leveraging this system, Sinosteel MECC has effectively achieved information collaboration in design, construction, and operation through big data analysis and mining, creating green and low-carbon intelligent pellet plants for numerous domestic and international customers.

To date, Sinosteel MECC has successfully applied this cutting-edge technology to 18 production lines worldwide, while continuously increasing R&D investments to drive iterative upgrades in travelling grate pelletizing technology.

1.0 - Independent R&D, Filling the Gap
During the period of 2013-2018, represented by the SISCO 2.5 million tons/year project in the Middle East and the Tosyali 4 million tons/year project in Algeria, the first-generation travelling grate pelletizing technology ("Sinosteel MECC Travelling Grate Pelletizing 1.0") achieved a breakthrough in China's travelling grate pelletizing technology and equipment from "zero" to "one." This technology was identified by industry associations as being at an internationally advanced level and has shown remarkable success in the field of global pellet projects.


2.0 - Green and Consumption Reduction, Winning the Market

In 2018, Sinosteel MECC initiated projects such as the HBIS 2x4.8 million tons/year, Fujian Sangang Minguang 2 million tons/year, and Liugang Fangchengang 4 million tons/year travelling grate pelletizing projects. These projects posed higher requirements for raw material conditions and product indicators, particularly demanding the preparation of high-quality fluxed pellets to support a large proportion of pellets entering the blast furnace.

The "Sinosteel MECC Travelling Grate Pelletizing 2.0" technology system was born. It not only overcame the technology for preparing high-quality fluxed pellets, effectively supporting a large proportion of pellets entering the blast furnace but also reduced process energy consumption to below 18 kgce/t, further demonstrating the technology's advantages in reducing pre-iron pollution emissions and lowering carbon dioxide emissions. Simultaneously, a batch of intelligent technologies represented by intelligent pellet-making, full lifecycle management of platform cars began to be applied in projects, enriching the connotation of the 2.0 technology system.


With the successive commissioning of three representative projects, Sinosteel MECC's travelling grate pelletizing technology has won a broader market and established a better reputation, being successively applied to a batch of key domestic projects such as Baowu Kunming Iron and Steel, Baowu Magang, Guangxi Shenglong, Fujian Longsteel, Nanjing Iron and Steel, and Jianlong Xilin, receiving unanimous praise from all parties.

3.0 - Iterative Upgrade, Low Carbon, Smart

In 2023, Sinosteel MECC once again innovated the travelling grate pelletizing technology. On the one hand, by optimizing traditional process sections and flue gas circulation methods, Sinosteel MECC achieved the cascading and efficient utilization of flue gas sensible heat. This innovative optimization can reduce fuel consumption, decrease carbon emissions, further lower process energy consumption, and enhance efficiency and environmental friendliness.

Sinosteel MECC has also established a connection channel between pellet preparation mechanisms and industrial big data, greatly improving the intelligence level of the travelling grate induration machine, forming a smart manufacturing system that integrates the "Pellet Industrial Brain," "Pellet Metaverse Factory," and "Smart Control Platform." This more targeted and intelligent smart manufacturing system, based on the full digital design of travelling grate pelletizing, combined with the 5D project construction progress management platform for time management and resource allocation, can meet the diverse intelligent levels and functional needs of customers.