Record-Setting Performances in 2019

JINDAL SHADEED – Sohar, Oman

The world’s first DRI plant designed to operate with the HOTLINK® system established new daily and monthly production records in 2019. HOTLINK allows hot DRI (HDRI) to be gravity-charged into an EAF via a direct connection between the MIDREX® Plant and the melting furnace. Jindal Shadeed produced 1.75 million tons of HDRI and hot briquetted iron (HBI), 89% of which was HDRI that was charged to the EAF melt shop by HOTLINK. En route to the annual production milestone, the plant had record-setting months in March and May, producing more than 160,000 tons each month, operating in excess of 8200 hours, and using more than 25% blast furnace-grade pellets in the feed mix.

NU-IRON UNLIMITED – Point Lisas, Trinidad and Tobago

The Nu-Iron MIDREX Plant exceeded its previous annual production record by more than 100,000 tons in 2019, producing over 1.7 million tons of highly metallized (>96%), high carbon (2.7%) cold DRI (CDRI). The plant was operated in excess of 8,000 hours, a noteworthy achievement and a highly valued goal of the plant. Nu-Iron ships all of its product to Nucor’s steelmaking plants in the US.

QATAR STEEL – Mesaieed, Qatar

The DR-2 combination HDRI/CDRI MIDREX Plant operated continuously for 6,024 hours (251 days), which likely is a record if this statistic were tracked for MIDREX Plants. Interestingly, operation was tripped due to reasons external to the plant. Qatar Steel’s DR-1 plant achieved 186 days (4,464 hours) of continuous operation in 2018.

TOSYALI ALGERIÉ – Bethioua (Oran), Algeria

A new DR industry record for daily production (7,700 tons) was achieved by Tosyali Algerié’s MIDREX Plant in July 2019. The world’s largest DRI plant, capable of producing 2.5 million t/y of HDRI and CDRI, was commissioned in July 2018, commenced CDRI operations in November 2018, and began transferring HDRI to the nearby EAF melt shop in February 2019.