India's Jindal Steel & Power to Build MIDREX Direct Reduction Plant in Orissa

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Jindal Steel & Power Limited (BSE:532286) (JSPL) (New Delhi), India's leading sponge iron and steel manufacturing company, has announced plans to develop a coal gasification-based MIDREX Direct Reduction (DRI) plant in the Angul district of Orissa. The plant will have a production capacity of 1.8 million tons per year.

The project will combine the gasification technology developed by process engineering company Lurgi GmbH (Frankfurt, Germany) with a 7.15-meter MIDREX Shaft Furnace, and produce DRI iron that will be used in meltshop applications. The unit will use domestically available iron ore and coal. Lurgi GmbH is a subsidiary of gas supplying company Air Liquide (EPA:AI) (Paris, France). This will be the first instance that the commercially available Lurgi technology will be combined with a MIDREX shaft furnace.

The Angul plant will utilize syngas that is generated in the gasifier and produce high-quality DRI to be melted in an electric arc furnace. The plant will be able to produce hot as well as cold DRI, which will be used in a greenfield meltshop supplied by engineering company SMS Siemag AG (Dusseldorf, Germany). The meltshop will use a hot transport conveyor system that will be supplied by conveying and storage equipment manufacturing company Aumund Fördertechnik Gmbh (Rheinburg, Germany).

During coal gasification, coal is partially oxidized and converted to synthesis gas. Superheated steam and oxygen are used to oxidize the coal. Composed largely of carbon monoxide, methane and hydrogen, synthesis gas is used as a reducing agent. It reduces the iron oxide required to produce DRI in the shaft furnace.

The coal gas-based MIDREX DRI plant is an environmentally and economically sound option for the iron and steel industry in regions where low-cost natural gas is not easily available as a fuel. A coal gasification plant can generate synthesis gas from a large variety of low-cost fuels, such as lignite, petroleum coke, bituminous and sub-bituminous coal, and petroleum refinery bottoms. A plant can use syngas generated from any of these fuels to produce DRI.

The process recycles the gas exiting the shaft furnace, and the CO2 removal system removes the sulfur gases contained in the recycled gas. The process thus effectively reduces both energy consumption and environmental impact.

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