The direct-reduced iron plant of Neyriz Ghadir Steel Company was inaugurated on Saturday in a ceremony attended by First Vice President Es’haq Jahangiri, Industries Minister Mohammad Shariatmadari and the head of Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization, Mehdi Karbasian.
Located in Fars Province, Neyriz steel company's construction started in 2010. Ghadir Investment Company is the project’s main investor and owns a 65% stake in the Neyriz plant, with IMIDRO controlling the rest.
Neyriz’s DRI plant is capable of producing 800,000 tons of sponge iron per year.
DRI, also known as sponge iron, is produced from direct reduction of iron ore in the form of lumps, pellets or fines by a reducing gas. It can be processed to create wrought iron.
The new plant is the third to be equipped with the Iranian direct-reduction technology called PERED, or Persian Reduction. The technology is invented and patented by MME Co., an Iranian engineering company registered in Germany.
The technology, which makes optimum use of energy and raw materials, reduces production costs with the added advantage of being more environment-friendly compared to other direct reduction methods.
PERED has so far been installed in two DRI plants in the country, namely Shadegan in Khuzestan Province and more recently Miyaneh in East Azarbaijan Province.
Shadegan Steel Company started the hot commissioning of its DRI module in May as the first plant to utilize PERED for DR.
Miyaneh Steel Complex’s DRI plant was the second producer to utilize PERED, which came on stream in October. The plant has an annual sponge iron production capacity of 800,000 tons with content reaching 95%, according to IMIDRO.
Iran was the world’s second largest DRI producer in 2017 with an output of 20.5 million tons, up 28.3% year-on-year, the World Steel Association reported.
The Islamic Republic trailed India in DRI output by producing 25.8 million tons in 2017, down 4.2% YOY.
Latest IMIDRO statistics also show that Iran exported 538,000 tons of DRI worth $140.27 million in nine months since the beginning of the current fiscal year (started March 21, 2017), growing 364% and 63% respectively YOY.
IMIDRO chief Mehdi Karbasian forecast DRI exports will reach 1 million tons by the fiscal yearend using fresh supplies bolstered by Neyriz’s output.
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