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Charlotte, North
Carolina-based Midrex Technologies Inc. says direct reduced iron (DRI) plants
it has equipped and installed around the world produced 3.3 percent more DRI in
2023 compared with the prior year.
The firm says its plants
produced 76 million metric tons (MMT) of DRI last year, an increase of about
2.4 MMT compared with the 73.56 MMT of output in 2022. DRI is consumed by
electric arc furnace (EAF) steel mills along with or instead of ferrous scrap
and has applications at blast furnace/basic oxygen furnace (BOF) mills.
The 2023 total for DRI is
a partial estimate, says the company, because actual figures from Russia and
Iran—two of the largest DRI producers—were unavailable.
Of the estimated 76 MMT
of output in 2023, Midrex says about 11 MMT it was used as hot or molten DRI
that was then consumed in nearby melt shops “to assist in reducing energy
consumption per ton of steel produced and to increase
productivity.”
The 2023 figure, when
added to prior annual numbers, means Midrex plants have produced a cumulative
total of more than 1.39 billion tons of all forms of DRI and hot briquetted
iron (HBI) through the end of last year.
The company says in 2023
nine new Midrex modules were established while nine others “established new
monthly production records.”
In addition to lacking
figures from Russia and Iran, Midrex says it also did not receive information
from Venezuelan plants, although it believes those installations “operated
during 2023 at reduced capacities.”
Plants highlighted by
Midrex as booming in 2023 included one at Antara Steel Mills in Malaysia that
operated at 9 percent over capacity during the year and two modules at
ArcelorMittal Canada in Québec that operated at an average of more than 99
percent capacity throughout the year.
The company says several
of its plants also did not operate in 2023 “due to commercial or market
conditions,” citing the following modules: ArcelorMittal Point Lisas in
Trinidad; ArcelorMittal South Africa; Delta Steel in Nigeria; ESISCO in Egypt;
Lion DRI in Malaysia; and NSCL National Steel Complex Ltd. (formerly Tuwairqi
Steel Mills) in Pakistan