The technology was jointly developed by Tenova and Danieli
International mining group LKAB has selected Energiron technology, jointly developed by Tenova and Danieli, for the basic design of a direct hydrogen reduction (DRI) iron plant in Jellivar, Sweden. This is stated in Tenova's message.
According to Tenova, this contract represents an important milestone in the application of the technology following its successful use in a pilot plant in Luleå, Sweden, operated by HYBRIT, a joint venture between LKAB, steelmaker SSAB and energy company Vattenfall.
The demonstration plant at Jellivar, with a production capacity of 1.35 million tpa of fossil-free DRI, will combine HYBRIT and Energiron technologies, leveraging their collective experience in direct reduced iron production. The results obtained at the HYBRIT pilot plant demonstrated the superiority of DRI produced using pure hydrogen as a reducing agent in relation to alternatives based on fossil fuels, such as gas.
The new design features an electric heater, a revolutionary innovation in industrial DRI installations. It will heat the process gas using green electricity. The heater completely eliminates carbon emissions, which significantly increases overall energy efficiency. The reduced iron directly produced at Jellivare will be used as raw material for SSAB's environmentally friendly, fossil-free steel production.
As Compraço previously reported, Danieli will supply a hybrid DRI unit to the Ternium factory in Mexico. The new Energiron DRI unit, which will be installed at the Pesquería plant, Nuevo Leon, will supply high-quality direct reduced iron to the company's new steelmaking facilities.
