stahl und eisen - Since 2006 Tenova HYL has been riding a boom in its direct reduction business. Its Energiron direct reduction technology, has seen the startup of three new DR plants, has four more under construction and two plants undergoing major upgrades in technology, as well as a recently announced deal for 4 new syngas-based plants. These make for a combined total of 22 million annual t of new DR production capacity, with more new projects likely on the way. This also marks the largest market growth period in the gas-based direct reduction industry.
Five plants are located in the Middle East/North Africa region, where growth of the steel industry has been significant in recent years. Emirates Steel Industries of Abu Dhabi, UAE, recently started up the second of two Energiron DR modules, each rated at 1.6 million tpy capacity, for a combined total of 3.2 million t. A third plant in Abu Dhabi at Gulf Sponge Iron (GSPI), in operation as of 2010, is an HYL Micro-Module producing 200 000 tpy of DRI using Tenova HYL’s reformerless ZR process. Two additional plants are currently under construction in Egypt – one is a 1.9 million tpy unit for Ezz Steel and the other a 2.0 million tpy reformerless ZR plant for Suez Steel. Of these five plants, three (Emirates Steel I and II and Suez Steel) use HYL’s patented Hytemp Pneumatic Transport System for feeding hot DRI directly to the EAF meltshop. This system has been proven 100% availability since the first installation at Ternium Monterrey in 1998.
Nucor Corporation, the premiere steel producer in the United States, signed a contract with Tenova HYL for the world’s largest single DR module ever to be constructed. Nucor will install a 2.5 million t/y Energiron ZR plant using Tenova HYL’s state-of-the-art reformerless process design. The plant is being supplied by Tenova HYL and being built in Louisiana, and will provide highly metallized, high carbon DRI to Nucor steel plants upon startup in 2013.
In addition to these six new plants, three of which use the reformerless ZR technology, Tenova HYL also built a new 800 000 tpy plant for Sidor in Venezuela, which is awaiting completion and startup. The company is also providing major upgrades for both Welspun Maxsteel in India and PT Krakatau Steel in Indonesia. The Welspun project involves the installation of equipment and systems necessary to operate both of their DR plants simultaneously, now that gas availability has been confirmed. They previously operated only one of the two units due to reduced gas supply, but will reach a full 1.5 million tpy capacity once the upgrade is concluded. The newest of their plants is a 600 000 tpy ZR unit.
The second upgrade is for PT Krakatau Steel in Indonesia, where the existing natural gas reformers are being taken off line so the 1.35 million tpy plant can operate as an Energiron ZR plant. In addition to reducing gas consumption, this technology upgrade will increase annual production capacity by an additional 300 000 tpy.
Tenova HYL and Danieli also recently announced a deal with Jindal Steel and Power of India for the supply of four new Energiron ZR plants based on syngas from coal gasification for two JSPL sites in India. This will eventually provide a total of 10 million t of annual DRI capacity for this client.
In all, this marks a total of nine new ZR plants in addition to the two Ternium facilities which have been in operation in Mexico since the late 90s. Of the thirteen projects, eight are being carried out by Tenova HYL and Danieli (ESI 1 and 2, Suez, Ezz, and the 4 JSPL plants), while the Sidor, GSPI, Welspun, PTKS and Nucor projects are directly being done by Tenova HYL.