02/08/2022 – Sustainable steel industry
Largest hydrogen-based DRI facility in China
A hydrogen-based 1,000,000 ton/year “Energiron” direct reduction (DR) plant will reduce carbon dioxide emission for a sustainable steel industry.
DRI Plant at EZZ Steel, Egypt. © Tenova
Sinosteel Engineering+Technology Co.Ltd., located in Beijing, China, has recently contracted Tenova, a leading developer and provider of sustainable solutions for the green transition of the metals industry, for the design and supply of a hydrogen-based 1,000,000 tonnes/year “Energiron” direct reduction (DR) plant.
The plant will be installed at Baosteel Zhanjiang Iron+Steel Co., Ltd, located in the Zhanjiang Economic and Technological Zone, Guangdong Province, China. With a capacity of 1,000,000 ton/year it will be the largest hydrogen-based DRI facility in China. As the effort to lower carbon emissions worldwide continues, the replacement of traditional blast furnace steelmaking technologies - often characterized by the intensive use of coal – is currently the new trend for a sustainable steel industry, and the use of gas-based ironmaking technologies is a valuable alternative. The “Energiron” technology, jointly developed by Tenova and Danieli, is the most flexible DR technology for virgin metallic unit production in terms of makeup gases utilization and is already designed to maximize the reduction of CO2 emissions. The new plant will use mainly hydrogen as reducing gas with the possibility to mix it with Natural Gas (NG) and Coke Oven Gas (COG) .It has in fact the flexibility to use different reducing gases in any combination or proportion, using the same “Energiron” ZR scheme. The plant will also be designed to have the capability to capture and sell CO2 on the commercial market; this will further reduce the overall plant CO2 emissions and provide an additional revenue stream for the plant operations. The plant will produce cold DRI pellets through an external cooler for potential future hot DRI production and transport (using the proven HYTEMP system) to a new EAF mill to be located next to the “Energiron” plant.
“This is the first direct reduction iron production line integrating hydrogen, natural gas and coke oven gas for industrial production. Thanks to our technology, Baowu group can proceed towards the path of reducing carbon emission and reaching carbon neutrality in 2050 and Tenova is very proud to be part of this journey.” said Stefano Maggiolino, President and CEO at Tenova HYL, the company’s competence center in direct reduction.
