Filtrabit unit now operational at Outokumpu Tornio

Filtrabit’s modular dust extraction unit delivered to Outokumpu’s stainless steel plant in Tornio, Finland is now in operation, handling multiple dust types.

The unit, fitted with Filtrabit’s flow-dynamic dust separation technology, has been successfully put into operation at the melting plant of the Tornio facility. The unit is located adjacent to a material stock house, where it attaches to the hooding of the feeding conveyor system at a hopper. Numerous valuable alloying elements are handled at this station as they are fed into the process at precise times as part of making high-quality stainless steel and other specialty steels.

A push-pull mechanism of air flow is utilized to create an intentional turbulence inside the hooding enclosure, in order to separate the dust particles from the bulk material at this early stage. The early intervention prevents those particles vulnerable to becoming airborne from doing so at a later stage. The unit essentially integrates into the process to perform a sieving operation, rather than acting as a traditional, passive dust control method.

A special advantage the modular technology brings is the ability to collect all of the different types of valuable dust as discrete materials, as opposed to being mixed together in a centralized system. The flow-dynamic dust separator continually drops the recovered material into a container that can be easily switched as the material being conveyed changes, enabling entirely new material side streams.

Mika Päätalo, D&Q Manager at Outokumpu Stainless:

“We collect all of the dusts that are formed during the process or that are shed from the raw materials. Now we have an enhanced extraction system in our dosing, where our intention is to collect more of the different fractions of dust.

As we’ve been testing this system together with Filtrabit, we’ve got a sense for how much dust is generated from different raw materials. It has reinforced the idea that these dusts should be collected separately from one another, rather than let them be mixed together. It would make their utilization and further refining much easier.

At Outokumpu, our portion of recycled materials is already above 90% in steel-making. What’s generated as side streams – slag, dusts and the like – is an important part of this circular economy. This also helps with reducing CO2 emissions, not having to melt these raw materials again at a contractor’s site but rather getting these materials directly into use in our own process.”

Kim Fagerlund, CEO of Filtrabit:

“We are incredibly proud to have successfully commissioned and started up our new modular dust extraction unit at the Outokumpu Tornio site.

This achievement is a testament to the seamless collaboration and efficient work of both the Outokumpu and Filtrabit teams. This project highlights the significant benefits of our modular technology, which offers easy installation, commissioning, and operation.

This new unit not only removes dust but also recovers valuable resources, unlocking new opportunities for carbon reduction. We look forward to continuing our partnership with Outokumpu.”

About Filtrabit
Filtrabit is a Finnish manufacturer of industrial-scale dust extraction systems. Filtrabit’s solution effectively extracts microparticles from industrial dust-laden gas streams, which helps reduce air pollutants from industrial sources and accelerate emissions reductions through the reuse of recovered raw materials.