Environmental Guidelines for the Direct Reduction Route to Steel Making

The electric arc furnace and the development of the mini-steel mill, along with direct reduction, has enabled countries to install for themselves steel making capacities for 60 to 70% of the capital cost required for an integrated steel works. Unlike the classical process which needs an annual production capacity of several million tons to be economically viable and competitive, a mini-steel mill can operate efficiently with a small scale as low as 5 t/hour, enabling flexibility. Furthermore, a direct reduction (IDR) plant has a much larger turn down ratio (i.e. the lowest proportion of the installed capacity at which an installation may continue to function in practice) than a blast furnace, although the specific energy consumption may rise.