Castellanza/Beijing, September 18, 2024 - Sinosteel Engineering & Technology Co., Ltd. (Sinosteel E&T), a leading industrial technology and engineering service provider offering low-carbon metallurgy full lifecycle solutions, and Tenova, a leading developer and provider of sustainable solutions for the green transition of the metals industry, have recently agreed on the successful completion of the Performance Test for Baosteel Zhanjiang Iron & Steel Co., Ltd.’s new hydrogen-based 1,000,000 tonnes/year ENERGIRON Direct Reduction (DR) plant.
The plant, designed by Tenova using ENERGIRON, the innovative DRI technology jointly developed by Tenova and Danieli, and completed with the engineering by Sinosteel, is installed in the Zhanjiang Economic and Technological Zone, Guangdong Province. During the performance test, the plant achieved a milestone production of a total of 21,620 tonnes of direct reduced iron, after 168 hours of continuous full-load production, with a metallization rate of more than 94% and using a 70% hydrogen-based reducing gas.
The ENERGIRON solution is the most flexible DR technology for virgin metallic unit production in terms of makeup gas utilization, and the most sustainable as it is designed to maximize reduction of CO2 emissions. The plant installed at Baosteel, a Baowu Group company, has the flexibility to use different reducing gases, like Hydrogen (H2), Natural Gas (NG), and Coke Oven Gas (COG), in any combination or proportion, using the same ENERGIRON Zero Reformer (ZR) scheme.
The full plant capacity is 1,000,000 tonnes/year, making it the largest and first-of-its-kind hydrogen-based DRI facility in China. It has been additionally designed to capture CO2 that can be sold commercially, further reducing the plant’s overall CO2 emissions and providing an added revenue stream for the plant operations.
“The successful operation of the Baosteel Zhanjiang million-tonne hydrogen-based shaft furnace stands as a pivotal initiative in Baowu’s efforts to promote low-carbon production. Thanks to this project, Baosteel is proceeding towards its path of reducing carbon emissions, paving a new way for green steel production.”, stated Liang Lisheng, Assistant General Manager of Baosteel Zhanjiang Iron & Steel Co., Ltd., and Director of the Ironmaking Plant.
“Congratulations to Baosteel Zhanjiang on the successful completion of the 168-hour performance test of the million-tonne hydrogen-based shaft furnace. We are grateful to Baosteel for their support and pay tribute to the relentless efforts of the team. Building on this significant achievement, we will continue to dedicate our technology and engineering expertise to advancing the steel industry towards carbon neutrality goals.”, stated Hua Guanglin, Executive Deputy Managing Director of Sinosteel E&T and General Manager of Sinosteel MECC.
“We are really satisfied with this project which confirms the great collaboration among all parties that participated in this achievement. Thanks to our ENERGIRON technology we have provided Baosteel with the first direct reduction iron production line integrating hydrogen, natural gas, and coke oven gas for industrial production”, declared Stefano Maggiolino, President and CEO at Tenova HYL, the company center in direct reduction technology.
