Kobe Steel's Midrex plant achieves world's highest single plant production volume

Kobe Steel Ltd announced today that Midrex Technologies Inc, a US subsidiary that designs direct-reduction iron-making plants, has achieved the world's highest single-plant output of 2.28 million tonnes (mnt) per year. The direct reduction method emits less carbon dioxide (CO2) than the blast furnace method, and as the demand for decarbonisation increases, the plant is expected to undergo expansion in future. The production capacity of over 200,000 tonnes is equivalent to a blast furnace with a furnace volume of 1,200 cubic metres. It is likely to be the first of many larger iron reduction plants.

The record was set by Turkish steelmaker Tosyali Holdings at its steelworks in Algeria. The plant with an annual capacity of 2.5 mnt, made by Midrex, had started production in Nov'18. This is the second year of full-scale operation and the highest record in 2021. In July last year, Midrex also received an order from the company for a plant of the same scale (unit 2), and once this is operational, the plant is expected to reach a production scale equivalent to that of a large integrated steel plant.

The Midrex plant uses natural gas for the reduction of iron ore. The Algerian plant also uses natural gas at present, but in future it will be possible to replace it with hydrogen, which does not emit CO2.