MIDREX

Direct Reduction

Process
A MIDREX Direct Reduction Plant is
composed of two main facilities:

--the Vertical Shaft Furnace that has preheat,

reduction, and cooling zones
where iron ore is reduced,

--the Reformer
which generates the reforming gas to be
charged into the Shaft Furnace. It converts the
natural and recycled gases into the reducing gas
(hydrogen and carbon monoxide)
Additional Equipment Information
In addition to its main vertical shaft furnace and the
reformer, the Midrex process utilizes the following major
pieces of equipment in its production process.
Charge Feed System introduces the charge into the top
of the furnace.

Heat Exchanger preheats the gases prior to reforming.

Cooling Gas Scrubber recycles the cooling gases that

exit from the DRI cooling zone of the furnace.

Top Gas Scrubber recycles the furnace exhaust gases

prior to combustion in the gas reformer.

Ejector Stack rejects the scrubbed flue gases to the

atmosphere.
The MIDREX® DR Process
-- is able to use both lump and pellet as
the raw material and
-- recycles the used gas.

Therefore the process has both low energy

consumption and low environmental
impact, making it an environmentally
friendly process.
The direct reduction of the oxide is carried
out on a continuous basis.

--The Iron Oxide fed to the top of the

shaft furnace flows downward under
gravity
and
--is discharged from the bottom in the
form of direct reduced iron (DRI).

****Combustion occurs as the reducing

gases flow countercurrent to the charge.
DRI - also known as direct reduced iron, is a virgin iron
source that is relatively uniform in composition, and
virtually free from tramp elements.

--It is used increasingly in electric furnace steelmaking to

dilute the contaminants present in the scrap used in these
processes.

--It has an associated energy value in the form of

combined carbon, which has a tendency to increase
furnace efficiency.

--For captive DRI production facilities, there is the added

advantage that the delivery of hot DRI to the furnace can
reduce energy consumption 16 to 20%.
The shaft furnace has two main gas circuits.

In the upper circuit,

iron oxide is preheated and reduced by
counter flowing reducing gas consisting
of predominantly Hydrogen and Carbon
Monoxide.

The lower circuit

introduces a mixture of reducing gas and
natural gas for the purpose of carburizing
the direct reduced iron.
The reducing gas is generated in
the reformer by

catalytically reforming a mixture

of fresh natural gas and recycled top
gas from the shaft furnace.
The reformer is a refractory lined

furnace containing alloy tubes filled

with a Nickel based catalyst.

The feed gas mixture flows upward

through the catalyst bed where it is

heated and reformed.

The reducing gas leaves the
reformer at near equilibrium
conditions, containing 90 to 92%
Hydrogen and Carbon Monoxide.

The gas is then directly conveyed

to the shaft furnace.
The thermal efficiency of the reformer is
greatly enhanced by the heat recuperator.
This unit consists of two shell and tube
type heat exchangers in the flue gas duct
coming from the reformer.
The heat exchangers recover the sensible
heat from the reformer flue gas to preheat
combustion air (used in Reformer Burners)
to 640 °C and to preheat process gas
(mixture of top gas and natural gas fed to
reformer tubes) to 540 °C.
The product from module is discharged
as COLD DRI

and

is sent to product silos for safe keeping

and supply to Meltshop for melting.
Process
[1]The charge is fed in continuously from
the top of the furnace, passing uniformly
through the preheat, reduction, and
cooling zones of the furnace.
[2]The reducing gas consists of about 95%
combined hydrogen + carbon monoxide. It
is heated to a temp. range of 760° to 927°C
and is fed in from bottom of the furnace,
below the reducing section.
[3]The gas flows countercurrent to the
descending solids.
[4]At the top of the furnace, the partially
spent reducing gas (approximately 70%
hydrogen plus carbon monoxide) exists and
is recompressed, enriched with natural gas,
preheated to 400°C, and transported to the
gas reformer.
[5] The reformer reforms the mixture
back to 95% hydrogen plus carbon
monoxide, which is then ready for re-use by
the direct reduction furnace.
[6] In the cooling zone, the cooling
gases flow countercurrent to the DRI.
[7] At the top of the cooling zone, the
cooling gases exit, are sent to recycling,
then return to the bottom of the cooling
zone.
[8] The cooled direct reduced iron (DRI)
is discharged through the bottom of the
furnace, after which it is screened for
removal of fines, and treated to minimize
the danger of spontaneous ignition during
extended storage.
[9] The reduced fines are briquetted to
produce a usable DRI product.
 Energy Consumption Statistics

--Energy usage for DRI

production is dominated
by natural gas and coal-
based processes.

--Natural gas based

processes accounted for
91.8% of total DRI
production in 1992.
--To December 2000, world steel production
was a record 843 million tonnes.
--EAFs anticipated to produce 45 per cent of
world steel production by 2010.
--Though there is a market for DRI, it is valuable
to steel recyclers as a complements in use in
electric arc furnaces as well as a diluent
("sweetener"). DRI can be used as a diluent
sweetener because scrap steel often contains
unacceptable levels of contaminants such as
copper, nickel, chrome, and molybdenum.
--The Midrex process that requires pellets, is
still the most popular representing two-thirds of
world production.
--No melting or refining takes place in the DRI
process and almost all impurities in ore feed
are also present in the DRI product. The iron
contents should therefore be high with low
impurities.

--Most DRI processes such as Midrex, can use

low quality gas with a low opportunity value to
the gas producer and hence providing an
important advantage for the DRI producer. The
use of second grade gas, avoiding the
installation of gas refiners provides an
important cost advantage.
Note that gas fired processes require the gas to be
reformed (reacted with water to a mixture of
hydrogen and carbon monoxide). Significantly, most
DRI processes can use gas with high levels of inerts
(carbon dioxide and nitrogen) and even at 30 per cent
level, the energy loss is typically only around 10 per
cent of the energy content (due to chemical,
thermodynamic and physical losses). Avoiding gas
stripping facilities, reduces the cost of gas to the
user.
--DRI requires about 120 kW hours of electricity per
tonne implying electricity would represent about 4
per cent of the final product. For comparison, steel
produced in an electric arc from DRI requires around
650 kW hours per tonne to equal around 13 per cent
(therefore a total of 17 per cent of the finished
product).
Projections about the
composition of steel
production
The first a simple projection to year 2015 with
the virtual elimination of open hearth
furnaces.
The following two pie graphs summarises the
composition of total steel production for 1980 and
1987. It shows:
the growing significance of scrap,
the decline of open hearth furnaces, and
the growth of DRI as a replacement for pig iron and
as diluent for the scrap.