Off and Running

1960s

Donald Beggs
oregon steel mills
  • Donald Beggs, head of Surface Combustion’s R&D Group, conceives the idea for the MIDREX® Process

  • Start-up of first MIDREX Plant – Oregon Steel Mills, Portland, OR, USA

Crossing Continents

1970s

Charlotte, NC
AM Hamburg plant
  • Korf Group purchases MIDREX Process and establishes Midrex Corporation in Charlotte, NC, USA

  • In-situ reforming

  • Heat recovery system

  • Furnace capacity increased up to 750,000 t/y

  • Flowsheets developed for coal and coke oven gas and high sulfur ores

  • Start-up of Hamburger Stahlwerke (now ArcelorMittal Hamburg) – oldest operating MIDREX Plant

  • MIDREX Plants produce more than 50% of world’s DRI

Leading the DRI Market

1980s

kobe
OEMK
HBI plant
  • Kobe Steel Ltd. acquires assets of Midrex Corporation

  • Hot discharge furnace designed

  • First MIDREX Plant use of oxide coating – OEMK, Stary Oskol, Russia

  • Furnace capacity increased to 1 million t/y

  • Start-up of first MIDREX Hot Briquetted Iron (HBI) plant – Sabah Gas Industries (now Antara Steel Mills), Labuan Island, FT, Malaysia

  • MIDREX Plants produce more than 60% of world’s DRI

Continued Growth

1990s

ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel Plants I and II
Essar Steel
venezuela
AM S Africa
JSW Steel Dolvi
  • MIDREX Plants produce 10 million tons of DRI in single year

  • First dual discharge MIDREX Plants – CDRI & HDRI (Essar Steel I and II, now ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel I and II)

  • First MIDREX Plant to use hot transport/hot charging of DRI – Essar Steel, Hazira, India

  • First MIDREX Plant use of oxygen injection – Acindar, Villa Constitucion, Argentina

  • MIDREX Plants produce 20 million tons of DRI in single year

  • Start-up of first MIDREX Plant using coal synthesis gas (from COREX® Process) – Saldanha Steel (now ArcelorMittal South Africa), Saldanha Bay, South Africa

  • Start-up of first single-module MIDREX MEGAMOD® Plant rated for 1 million t/y of DRI – Nippon Denro Ispat (now JSW Dolvi Works), Raigad, India

Setting World Records

2000s

hadeed
OEMK
Qatar steel
  • First use of a hot conveyor for transporting & charging HDRI to an EAF – Hadeed E, Al-Jubail, Saudi Arabia

  • MIDREX Plants produce 30 million tons of DRI in single year

     

  • First installation of OXY+® partial oxidation system – OEMK, Stary Oskol, Russia

  • Start-up of first MIDREX Combination Plants (HDRI/HBI and CDRI on demand) – Hadeed E, Al-Jubail, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar Steel II, Mesaieed, Qatar

  • MIDREX Plants exceed 500 million tons of cumulative DRI production

Nonstop Innovation

2010s

Shaheed
1 billion tons of DRI
midrex plant
  • Start-up of first Midrex HOTLINK® plant for direct charging of hot DRI (HDRI) into EAF – Jindal Shadeed, Sohar, Oman

  • MIDREX Plants exceed 1 billion tons of cumulative DRI production

  • Start-up of first MIDREX MxCōl® Plant to use coal gasification technology to make reducing gas – Jindal Steel & Power, Angul, India

  • Start-up of world’s largest HBI plant (2 million t/y) – voestalpine Texas, Corpus Christi, Texas

  • Start-up of world’s largest single module combination DRI plant, rated at 2.5 million t/y of CDRI/HDRI – Tosyali Algerie, Oran, Algeria

  • Midrex and Praxair develop and demonstrate Thermal Reactor System (TRS) for making reducing gas from coke oven gas

  • ACT™ (Adjustable Carbon Technology) – increases carbon (up to 4.5%) in new or existing MIDREX Plants without temperature loss

  • Flowsheets developed for hydrogen addition (MIDREX Flex™) and 100% hydrogen-based direct reduction (MIDREX H2™)

  • 50 years of commercial operation

2020s

DRI Plant Hamburg
publication cover
DRI Plant Hamburg
  • Midrex & AMI team up to offer DR-EAF process optimization

  • First commercial-scale MIDREX Plant (AM Hamburg) turns 50

  • Midrex certified for ISO 9001:2015

  • 40th anniversary of Direct From Midrex

  • ArcelorMittal & Midrex collaborate in hydrogen steelmaking demonstration (AM Hamburg)

Off and Running

1960s

Donald Beggs

Donald Beggs, head of Surface Combustion’s R&D Group, conceives the idea for the MIDREX® Process

oregon steel mills

Start-up of first MIDREX Plant – Oregon Steel Mills, Portland, OR, USA

Crossing Continents

1970s

Charlotte, NC

Korf Group purchases MIDREX Process and establishes Midrex Corporation in Charlotte, NC, USA

In-situ reforming

Heat recovery system

Furnace capacity increased up to 750,000 t/y

Flowsheets developed for coal and coke oven gas and high sulfur ores

AM Hamburg plant

Start-up of Hamburger Stahlwerke (now ArcelorMittal Hamburg) – oldest operating MIDREX Plant

MIDREX Plants produce more than 50% of world’s DRI

Leading the DRI Market

1980s

kobe

Kobe Steel Ltd. acquires assets of Midrex Corporation

Hot discharge furnace designed

OEMK

First MIDREX Plant use of oxide coating – OEMK, Stary Oskol, Russia

Furnace capacity increased to 1 million t/y

HBI plant

Start-up of first MIDREX Hot Briquetted Iron (HBI) plant – Sabah Gas Industries (now Antara Steel Mills), Labuan Island, FT, Malaysia

MIDREX Plants produce more than 60% of world’s DRI

Continued Growth

1990s

MIDREX Plants produce 10 million tons of DRI in single year

ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel Plants I and II

First dual discharge MIDREX Plants – CDRI & HDRI (Essar Steel I and II, now ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel I and II)

Essar Steel

First MIDREX Plant to use hot transport/hot charging of DRI – Essar Steel, Hazira, India

venezuela

First MIDREX Plant use of oxygen injection – Acindar, Villa Constitucion, Argentina

MIDREX Plants produce 20 million tons of DRI in single year

AM S Africa

Start-up of first MIDREX Plant using coal synthesis gas (from COREX® Process) – Saldanha Steel (now ArcelorMittal South Africa), Saldanha Bay, South Africa

JSW Steel Dolvi

Start-up of first single-module MIDREX MEGAMOD® Plant rated for 1 million t/y of DRI – Nippon Denro Ispat (now JSW Dolvi Works), Raigad, India

Setting World Records

2000s

hadeed

First use of a hot conveyor for transporting & charging HDRI to an EAF – Hadeed E, Al-Jubail, Saudi Arabia

MIDREX Plants produce 30 million tons of DRI in single year

 

OEMK

First installation of OXY+® partial oxidation system – OEMK, Stary Oskol, Russia

Qatar steel

Start-up of first MIDREX Combination Plants (HDRI/HBI and CDRI on demand) – Hadeed E, Al-Jubail, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar Steel II, Mesaieed, Qatar

MIDREX Plants exceed 500 million tons of cumulative DRI production

Nonstop Innovation

2010s

Shaheed

Start-up of first Midrex HOTLINK® plant for direct charging of hot DRI (HDRI) into EAF – Jindal Shadeed, Sohar, Oman

1 billion tons of DRI

MIDREX Plants exceed 1 billion tons of cumulative DRI production

Start-up of first MIDREX MxCōl® Plant to use coal gasification technology to make reducing gas – Jindal Steel & Power, Angul, India

midrex plant

Start-up of world’s largest HBI plant (2 million t/y) – voestalpine Texas, Corpus Christi, Texas

Start-up of world’s largest single module combination DRI plant, rated at 2.5 million t/y of CDRI/HDRI – Tosyali Algerie, Oran, Algeria

Midrex and Praxair develop and demonstrate Thermal Reactor System (TRS) for making reducing gas from coke oven gas

ACT™ (Adjustable Carbon Technology) – increases carbon (up to 4.5%) in new or existing MIDREX Plants without temperature loss

Flowsheets developed for hydrogen addition (MIDREX Flex™) and 100% hydrogen-based direct reduction (MIDREX H2™)

50 years of commercial operation

2020s

Midrex & AMI team up to offer DR-EAF process optimization

DRI Plant Hamburg

First commercial-scale MIDREX Plant (AM Hamburg) turns 50

Midrex certified for ISO 9001:2015

publication cover

40th anniversary of Direct From Midrex

DRI Plant Hamburg

ArcelorMittal & Midrex collaborate in hydrogen steelmaking demonstration (AM Hamburg)

Looking Forward

Midrex and Paul Wurth Selected by H2 Green Steel

Read the Official Press Release
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