- sustainable research and development
Within the purview of technology and development management, an analysis of the current state of the country's industries is conducted to assess their environmental impact, and strategies to enhance and refine their processes for bolstering environmental resilience are deliberated. This undertaking is bifurcated into two sub-process teams: environmental data analysis and environmental process modification.
- Steel and related industries
In this process basic designs are carried out for selected parts of the steel chain (from min to final product) and related industries. Currently, there are consist of three sub-processes as DRI, steelmaking, and ferroalloys.
However, the main parts of every production process, including the main parts of the steel chain, have been completely dependent on technologies. also, Serious activities are needed to change domestically to deal with this prevailing culture. FIECO has formed DRI, steelmaking, and ferroalloy teams in their technology management and development. Especially in DRI sector, complex modeling of different parts of the reduction process has been done with great accuracy. Its validation has been carried out and proven in different conditions and in factories in operation. As a result, in the design of the up-to-date technology of the reduction unit, they have not only reached full self-sufficiency but also achieved the best performance in this part of steel chain. This process is being followed and carried out in two other sectors of steelmaking and ferroalloy.
- Intelligence technology
The current state of the world community is heavily involved in a technology called artificial intelligence, which has become extremely prevalent and commonplace. In the Intelligence process of technology management and development, far from any exaggeration, the result of the rational use of Intelligence principles during the last 12 years in FIECO has become a roadmap to mostly form the bellow teams:
• Digital Twin
• Internet of Things
• Information Security
• PAC or Programmable Automation Controllers
to increase the productivity of the country's production units, and so far, the design and implementation of the digital twin related to DRI unit have been successfully completed.
- Construction of pilot units
In line with the development of technology and reaching the relevant maturity, it is necessary to complete the 9 stages of technology preparation or TRL (Technology Readiness Level) from the level of initial studies to the highest level, which is the construction of an industrial unit. In this way, the construction of a pilot unit is important, and it has a special significance in the following areas which is planned, and especially in the field of reduction and hematite conversion, it has been an acceptable speed of progress as a bellow:
• DRI
• Hematite to magnetite
• Carbon capture
• Green hydrogen
- Renewable Energy
The world is rapidly moving towards the use of renewable and green energy instead of fossil fuels, and despite having fossil fuel reserves, we have no choice to move in this direction for various reasons. The result of such rapid growth in the use of renewable energy and extensive research in this field has led to an incredible reduction in the production cost of this type of energy, to the extent that the cost of building photovoltaic solar power plants has decreased by almost one-third in just four years. Therefore, two major economic factors, along with the need to preserve the environment, fully justify the increasing use of renewable energy and make it unbeatable. In FIECO, work has been focused on building wind and solar power plants since 2017, and especially in the field of building solar power plants, 20 kW and 100 kW solar systems have been designed and built with full reliance on FIECO's capabilities and have been connected to the national power in recent years. The design and construction of a 10 MW solar power plant in Nayin has also begun. The renewable energy process consists of the following sub-processes:
• Solar energy
• Energy recycling
In the energy recycling team, improve the energy consumption in various industries are addressed, and preventing energy waste in various processes and reusing it is being investigated.
- Mining
Due to the existence of rich magnetite deposits in the country, no significant progress has been made in the domestic iron ore mining sector so far, but these deposits are rapidly depleting, and extensive research is needed to find alternatives to magnetite and use abundant hematite deposits. Therefore, the following processes have been organized in the mining process technology management and development:
• Processing
• Exploration
In the processing team, special attention has been paid to the process of converting hematite to magnetite.
- Infrastructure Development
Engineering knowledge is constantly evolving and it is necessary for research to be up-to-date in all engineering sectors, so that designs are based on the latest data and the use of the latest software developed in various sectors. The goal of forming such a team is not only to update engineering knowledge, but also to update the methods and project implementation infrastructure, which includes other sections such as project control, construction, installation and commissioning. Therefore, various teams have been formed in the infrastructure development group.