Direct reduced iron plant
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A Direct Reduced Iron plant is a furnace that produces Direct Reduced Iron (DRI), also referred to as sponge iron due to its porous nature. The process can also produce Hot Briquetted Iron (HBI). The iron can then be used to produce steel via other production routes, such as the Electric Arc Furnace (EAF). The process uses iron ore (in the form of lumps, pellets, or fines) as raw material input, gases such as carbon monoxide (produced from natural gas or coal), or hydrogen (produced from natural gas, coal, or using an electrolyzer) as reducing agents, and creates sponge iron as output.
The Process
Direct Reduced Iron is produced through the direct reduction of iron ore. This process removes oxygen from the iron ore, to convert it into metallic iron in the solid state (i.e., without needing to melt it) at a temperature below its melting point. A furnace is fed with iron ore and the reducing agents are pumped in to dissolve the oxygen in the iron ore, creating pellets or briquettes with 90-97% iron content.[1] The reducing agents commonly used are carbon monoxide or hydrogen sourced from natural gas, coal or syngas.[2] Following types of furnaces are generally used in the direct reduced iron production:
- Shaft furnace, like the Midrex and HYL III processes.It is adopted in places
- Fluidized bed furnace
- Rotary kiln furnaces, like SL/RN and Krupp-Codir type furnaces[2]
- Retort furnace, like HYL I process[3]
Emissions
As much of the energy used during the DRI process is gas, which has less carbon dioxide emissions than the coal used in Blast Furnaces (BF), the emissions associated with this type of iron production are significantly lower. While most DRI is used in EAFs, HBI can also be used in Blast Furnaces, reducing the consumption of reducing agents like the coal-based coke.[4] DRI is also relatively energy efficient, requiring less fuel than needed in a Blast Furnace. The capital investment and operating costs of direct reduction plants, too, are lower than integrated steel plants (i.e., BF-BOF plants) and are more suitable for developing countries where supplies of high grade coking coal are limited, but where steel scrap is generally available for recycling.
Emissions from a DRI plant depend on the reducing agents and electricity used for the process and running of the facility. However, it is a pathway with high potential for low-emissions iron production.
Benefits
DRI plants have several benefits including those listed below:
- They are excellent feedstock for electric arc furnaces as DRI has same iron content (90-94%) pig iron produced in blast furnaces allowing usage of lower grades of scrap.
- Convenient to ship, handle and store when converted to its compact form, Hot-briquetted iron
- Hot DRI can be used directly in electric arc furnaces, saving energy.
- Reduction in emissions, when compared to blast furnaces, as discussed in the above section.[5]
References
- ↑ "AIST Steel Wheel". apps.aist.org. Retrieved 2023-12-19.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "DRI production | International Iron Metallics Association". www.metallics.org. Retrieved 2023-12-19.
- ↑ "Direct Reduction Technologies". SAIL. Retrieved 29 March 2024.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ "Direct-reduced iron becomes steel decarbonization winner". S&P Global. June 22, 2022.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ "Direct reduced iron". Wikipedia. Retrieved 26 March 2024.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
External links
- Direct Reduced Iron - Midrex Technologies
- What is Direct Reduced Iron (DRI) - Infinity Galaxy
- Energy-efficient Technology Options for Direct Reduction of Iron Process (Sponge Iron Plants)- TERI India, 2021
This page uses material from the Wikipedia page direct reduced iron under the provisions of the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Abeckford21 (talk) 18:33, 12 July 2021 (UTC)
