SMS group has strengthened its position as a leading full-line supplier for sustainable metallurgy with the acquisition of selected
Metso business units and technologies in Germany, India, China and Australia. The move enables SMS group to deliver customised solutions that accelerate the transition to low-emission iron and steelmaking, adaptable to any site conditions, ore and energy profiles, or regulatory regimes.
By integrating agglomeration technologies for travelling grate pelletising, sintering and Circulating Fluid Bed (CFB) calcination, SMS group expands its upstream process offering and reinforces its role in sustainable metallurgy and direct-reduction routes. Iron ore agglomeration is essential for producing feedstock for shaft-furnace direct-reduction processes as well as conventional ironmaking. Customers will benefit from a single-source partner for end-to-end solutions — from raw-material processing to finished-product systems — featuring high-efficiency agglomeration technologies that combine flexible feed handling, advanced heat recovery and combustion technology, and robust automation.
Thomas Hansmann, CTO of SMS group said: “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 steelmaking. The collaborative spirit of our experts will enable targeted and competitive innovation.”
SMS group is also 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 Metso teams will 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 a global service network to ensure fast response, optimised uptime and full lifecycle support.