Dec 22 2009
Jindal Steel & Power Limited (JSPL) has announced that it will build a 1.8 million ton per year coal gasification-based MIDREX Direct Reduction Plant in Angul, Orissa, India. The new MIDREX Module will pair commercially available gasification technology from Lurgi GmbH of Germany, together with a 7.15 meter MIDREX Shaft Furnace to produce direct reduced iron (DRI) for use in meltshop applications. This will be the first time a Lurgi gasifier will be paired will a MIDREX Furnace; the new installation will use indigenous coal and iron ore.
The new MIDREX Plant will have the flexibility to produce both cold and hot DRI (HDRI) for a new greenfield meltshop to be supplied by SMS Siemag AG of Germany and will use a hot transport conveyor similar to that installed at Hadeed Module E in Saudi Arabia. This commercially proven system is supplied by AUMUND Fördertechnik of Germany.
The Angul MIDREX Plant will utilize syngas produced in the gasification plant to produce high quality DRI for melting in an EAF. Coal gasification is the process that converts coal to Synthesis gas by partial oxidation using oxygen and superheated steam as the reactants. The synthesis gas mainly consists of carbon monoxide, hydrogen and methane which will be utilized as a reducing agent for the iron oxide to produce DRI in the MIDREX Shaft Furnace.
The world's first application of coal gasification to produce DRI in a MIDREX Plant started up in 1999 at ArcelorMittal Steel South Africa (formerly Saldanha Steel). This facility includes a COREX Plant, supplied by Siemens VAI, which uses a melter/gasifier to simultaneously produce pig iron and a byproduct synthesis gas that feeds a MIDREX MEGAMOD Shaft Furnace. The Coal Gas MIDREX Direct Reduction Plant is an economical and environmentally sound solution for the iron and steel industry in areas of the world where natural gas as a fuel is not a viable option. A coal gasification plant can use a wide range of low cost fuels, such as bituminous and subbituminous coal, lignite, pet coke, and petroleum refinery bottoms to generate a synthesis gas. This syngas can be an acceptable reducing gas source for producing DRI in a MIDREX Plant.