MIDREX® Plants with 4th Quarter Anniversaries

This issue of Direct From Midrex recognizes the start-ups of Hadeed B (Saudi Iron & Steel Company) in Al Jubail, Saudi Arabia (40 years), OEMK IV (Oskol Electrometallurgical Kombinat) in Stary Oskol, Russia (35 years), LISCO 3 (Libyan Iron & Steel Company) in Misurata, Libya (25 years), LGOK HBI-2 (Lebedinsky GOK) in Gubkin, Russia (15 years), and DRIC I (Direct Reduction Iron Company) in Damman, Saudi Arabia (15 years).

Hadeed B (Saudi Iron & Steel Company)

Started up 40 years ago in the 4th Quarter
Location: Al Jubail, Saudi Arabia
DR plant: MIDREX® (I of 4 modules)

• Start-up: December 1982
• Flowsheet: MIDREX NG™
• Product: CDRI
• Capacity: 0.4 M tons

Hadeed (Saudi Iron and Steel Company) is a fully-owned affiliate of Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC). It began operating in 1979 and added two MIDREX® DR Modules in 1982- 83 (Hadeed A & B), a third in 1992 (Hadeed C), and a dual discharge HDRI/CDRI module (Module E) in 2007.

Although originally rated at 0.4 million tons/ year, Hadeed B has averaged more than 0.6 million tons/year in its 40 years of operation. Two reformer bays were added in 1997, and thin wall refractory was installed in the shaft furnace in 2011.

Oskol Electrometallurgical Kombinat Module IV

Started up 35 years ago in the 4th Quarter
Location: Stary Oskol, Russia
DR plant: MIDREX® (I of 4 modules)

• Start-up: December 1987
• Flowsheet: MIDREX NG™
• Product: CDRI
• Capacity: 0.4 M tons

Oskol Electrometallurgical Kombinat (OEMK), one of the world’s largest direct reduction/electric arc furnace (DR/EAF) steel mills, is located in Stary Oskol, Belgorod Region, Russia, 600 kilometers south of Moscow near Kursk. The first of four MIDREX® Direct Reduction Modules owned and operated by OEMK was started up in December 1983, followed by Module II in December 1985, Module III in January 1987, and Module IV in December 1987.

Through 2021, OEMK IV has produced more than 18.5 million tons of DRI, which is an annual average of almost 528.6 tons by a module originally designed for 400,000 tons per year.

OEMK is owned by Metalloinvest, the global leader in merchant HBI production and Russia’s largest iron ore company.

LISCO 3 (Libyan Iron & Steel Company )

Started up 25 years ago in the 4th Quarter
Location: Misurata, Libya
DR plant: MIDREX® (I of 3 modules)

• Start-up: November 1997
• Flowsheet: MIDREX NG™ with hot briquetting
• Product: HBI
• Capacity: 0.65 M tons

Libyan Iron & Steel Company (LISCO) owns and operates two MIDREX Modules that have a combined annual rated capacity of 1.1 million tons of cold DRI (CDRI) and LISCO 3, which is rated at 0.65 million tons/year of HBI. LISCO 3 was the first HBI plant to be built in North Africa and has become an important supplier to Western Europe and Turkey.

The integrated DR-EAF works began production in September 1989 and produces a wide variety of steel products including bars, rods, large & medium sections, and hot & cold-rolled strip.

Lebedinsky GOK HBI-2

Started up 15 years ago in the 4th Quarter
Location: Gubkin, Belgorod Region, Russia
DR plant: MIDREX® (I of 2 modules)

• Start-up: October 2007
• Flowsheet: MIDREX NG™ with hot briquetting
• Product: HBI
• Capacity: 1.4 M tons

Lebedinsky GOK (LGOK) is located astride the Kursk Magnetic Anomaly (iron ore naturally containing 60% iron), in Gubkin, Belgorod Region, Russia. LGOK operates three HBI plants: two MIDREX® Process and one HYL ENERGIRON. The MIDREX Plants were started up in October 2007 (HBI-2) and March 2017 (HBI-3).

Through 2021, LGOK HBI-2 has produced almost 21.1 million tons of HBI with metallization averaging 94.1%. In late 2021, Metalloinvest awarded a contract for Lebedinsky HBI-4 to Midrex and its construction partner, Primetals Technologies.

Direct Reduction Iron Company (DRIC 1)

Started up 15 years ago in the 4th Quarter
Location: Damman, Saudi Arabia
DR plant: MIDREX® (1 of 2)

• Start-up: December 2007
• Flowsheet: MIDREX NG™
• Product: CDRI
• Capacity: 0.5 M tons

The two modules owned and operated by Direct Reduction Iron Company Ltd. were first started up in 1979 for British Steel Corporation in Hunterston, Scotland. The modules were relocated to Mobile, Alabama, USA, in 1997 for Tuscaloosa Steel. The Al-Tuwairqi Group acquired in 2004 and relocated the two module plant to its current location in Damman, Saudi Arabia.

DRIC 1 produced 5.7 million tons of DRI in 2021, and with DRIC 2, which began operation in May 2007, have produced 11.6 million tons.

DRIC is a subsidiary of Arab Steel Company, which is part of Al Ittefaq Steel Company (ISPC).