Primetals Technologies Ltd. (London, U.K.; www.primetals.com) received an order for a briquetting plant for the complete recycling of dusts and sludges in Corpus Christi, Texas. Primetals Technologies and Midrex Technologies (Charlotte, N.C.; www.midrex.com) are currently building a direct reduction plant there, which will produce 2 million metric tons (m.t.) of hot briquetted iron (HBI) per year. The recently ordered briquetting plant will briquette around 160,000 m.t./yr of dusts, sludges and pellet fines, and use the briquettes as a substitute for pellets to produce HBI. Commissioning is scheduled for July 2016. The briquetting plant will save resources, as all by-products will be recycled.
Primetals Technologies will provide the process know-how and engineering for the plant, supply some of the equipment, including the electrical installation and automation systems, and commission the fines recycling plant. voestalpine AG (Linz, Austria; www.voestalpine.com) will handle the necessary construction work and erect the plant.
Primetals Technologies and Midrex have formed a consortium to engineer voestalpine’s direct reduction plant near Corpus Christi. They will also supply the electrical and mechanical equipment, and provide supervisory services. The Midrex direct reduction plant produces high quality HBI iron ore pellets. Their quality is comparable to that produced from highest quality scrap or hot metal. The new plant will supply voestalpine’s Austrian steel works in Linz and Donawitz with environmentally friendly HBI at a favorable cost. These works will take about half of the HBI production. The remainder is intended to be sold in the market under long-term supply contracts.