Iron Resources and Direct Iron Production

Direct reduction (DR) is defined as the production of

metallic iron by the reduction of iron ore (iron oxide)
below the melting temperature of any materials involved. The product of a DR process is called direct
reduced iron (DRI). Because of its low level of
impurities compared to scrap, DRI is used mainly as a
high quality feedstock in steelmaking, primarily in the
electric arc furnace (EAF).
The most common method of converting iron ore to
metallic iron utilizes a blast furnace (BF). This is a
countercurrent reactor in which iron ore is reduced by
gas in the shaft, and melted (smelted) in the hearth to
produce pig iron. Approximately 93% of the worlds
iron is produced in this way. However, conditions in
the steel industry have changed dramatically over the
past 25 years, such that for new capacity, alternative
processes may be preferred. Some new smelting
reduction processes for pig iron have been developed,
existing DR processes have been improved, and new
DR processes developed. Compared to the BF, DR
processes have lower capital requirements, produce
fewer emissions, and can use a wider choice of fuels.
Commercial production of DRI began in the 1950s,
but did not achieve significant growth until the 1970s.
World DRI production was 31 Mt in 1995, and
reached 43 Mt in 2000. This is about 7.5% of total iron
production (US Geological Society [USGS] 2000).
The reason for the rapid increase in DRI production
was to meet the demand for a high purity supplement
for ferrous scrap for EAF steelmaking. Steel produced
by the EAF accounted for nearly 40% of the world
production of 830 Mt in 2000.
1. Raw Materials
The principal raw materials for DRI production are
iron oxide concentrates, iron oxide pellets, and natural
gas. A few DR processes that use rotary kilns or rotary
hearth furnaces use solid hydrocarbon reductants,
such as lignite and coal. Recently, the offgas from the
COREX direct smelting furnace has been adapted for
use in DRI production. Continued interest is expected
in DR processes based on natural gas, but in
some locations, coal-based DR processes may offer
advantages.
1.1 Iron Oxide
Available sources of iron oxide include high-grade
lump ore, beneficiated iron ore fines, iron ore pellets,
and agglomerates from dusts produced by the BF,
basic oxygen furnace, and the EAF. Most DRI is
produced in shaft furnaces, which require a uniformsized coarse feed. Due to the high gas velocities and
abrasive conditions in shaft furnaces, fine particles are
not suitable as charge materials. They tend to be

carried out with the gas stream, from which they must
be collected and recirculated. Fluidized bed DR
processes are exceptions. Shaft furnaces use pellets
(produced in the same way as pellets for the BF), or
lump ore. Raw material for pellets is produced by
crushing and grinding low-grade iron orestypically
of the taconite class and finer than 325 mesh
(0.044 mm)and magnetically separating the iron
oxide (magnetite, Fe O ) from the siliceous gangue.
%
The fine particles are$ reconstituted
into moist pellets
about 1 cm in diameter, and then indurated by heating
to temperatures approaching 1300 mC. This is sufficient
to bring about complete oxidation to recrystallized
hematite (Fe O ).
$ key differences in the pellet chemThere are #some
istry for DRI versus BF use. In DRI production, the
primary chemical change is the removal of oxygen and
the addition of some carbon; the other constituents
remain with the DRI. In smelting, the formation of a
slag allows substantial removal of the ore contaminants. For this reason, the iron content of DRI pellets
should be as high as possible and preferably
67%.
Pellet reducibility, strength, and swelling specifications
are similar to those of BF pellets. Coal-based processes
have the potential disadvantage of contributing coal
ash oxides to the product.
1.2 Natural Gas
Natural gas-based DR processes account for about
92% of worldwide production of DRI. Natural gas
consists primarily of methane (CH ), together with
% nitrogen, and
small amounts of other hydrocarbons,
carbon dioxide. Natural gas cannot be used directly in
the reduction of iron ore because it decomposes to
form soot at a temperature below that which iron
oxide can be reduced. Natural gas is used in three main
ways: first, as a feedstock for producing the reducing
gas, second as a fuel for supplying the necessary heat in
the furnace and gas reformer, and third as a coolant
and carburizing agent for freshly-prepared DRI. A
major constraint on the specification for natural gas is
its sulfur content; if above 10 ppm, it can deactivate
some types of reformer catalyst. Techniques are
available to remove sulfur if necessary.
1.3 Coal
A wide variety of coals are suitable for producing
reducing agents for DR processes, but coal itself is not
used to reduce iron oxide. When a coal\ore mixture is
heated, the coal devolatilizes to a hydrocarbon-rich
gas and char. The gas is burned above the bed to
provide some of the necessary heat, and a supplemental fuel, such as natural gas, oil, or pulverized coal is
used to provide the rest. The char becomes an effective
reducing agent only above about 950 mC. Some of the
desired specifications for coal are low ash and sulfur
content, high char reactivity, and high ash fusion
1

Iron Resources and Direct Iron Production

temperature. Coal can also be used as a feedstock for
the production of reducing gas for gas-based processes. Coal is oxidized in a slagging gasifier, and the hot
offgas used to reduce pellets in a shaft furnace.
2. Principles, Operations, and Products
The reduction of iron ore is accomplished by a series of
gas-solid reactions similar to those taking place in the
stack of the BF. Even carbothermic reduction of iron
ore does not take place by direct contact between
carbon and iron oxide, but rather involves an intermediate step whereby carbon monoxide is generated by carbon reacting with carbon dioxide. The
reducing gas for shaft furnace and fluidized bed DR
processes is produced by reforming natural gas with
steam and\or carbon dioxide. Reducing gas may also
be produced by partial oxidation of natural gas and
other hydrocarbons with oxygen. Thermodynamic
calculations involving gas-solid reactions were made
with the F*A*C*T Equilib program (CRCT).
2.1 Reduction of Iron Oxide
In the simplest instance, iron production consists of
removing oxygen from iron oxide with a suitable
reducing agent, such as carbon monoxide (CO) or
hydrogen:
Fe O j3CO 2Fej3CO ;
# $
#
Hm at 25 mC lk25 kJ
2Fej3H O;
Fe O j3H
# $
#
#
Hm at 25 mC lj99 kJ

(1)
(2)

In the case of coal used as a reductant, the CO formed

#
in Eqn. (1) reacts with the char to form CO according
to:
2CO; Hm at 25 mC lj172 kJ (3)
CjCO
#
All of the DR processes depend, in part, on Eqns.
(1) and (2), which occur at reasonable rates only above
about 700 mC. Equation (3) occurs at a reasonable rate
only above about 9501000 mC, depending on char
reactivity. The manner in which hematite (Fe O ) is
# $and
converted to magnetite (Fe O ), wustite (FexO),
$
%
iron is very complex. If the starting oxide material is
very dense, the reduction usually proceeds topochemically in accord with the shrinking core model.
That is, the outside of each reacting particle or pellet is
covered with a layer of metallic iron, beneath which
are well-defined layers of wustite and magnetite, and
an unreacted core of hematite. If the oxide is very
porous, the reducing gases penetrate easily and reduction to metallic iron proceeds throughout. Within
a single particle, there may be many interconnected
pores along which the reduction steps proceed. The
term sponge iron is used to describe DRI produced
2

from porous iron oxide. Under certain conditions,

iron ore pellets may expand dramatically during
reduction (catastrophic swelling). This is attributed to
the formation of filamentary iron growing from
wustite at a limited number of sites.
Wustite has a defect structure containing both ferric
and ferrous iron. In equilibrium with iron, the O\Fe
ratio is nearly constant at 1.05 over the temperature
range 5651200 mC. In equilibrium with magnetite, the
O\Fe ratio varies between 1.05 at 565 mC and 1.17 at
1200 mC. Wustite is unstable with respect to the
formation of iron and magnetite below 565 mC; unreduced wustite in DRI therefore tends to decompose
to iron and magnetite as it cools.
Each reduction step is limited by the usual massaction principles, so that CO and H cannot be fully
utilized in iron oxide reduction alone.# Figure 1 shows
the percentage CO in a COCO mixture, and the
#
percentage H in a H H O mixture
for the co#
#
#
existence of wustite (Fe . O) and metallic iron, and
!
*&
magnetite and wustite (FexO, where x varies from
about 0.85 to 0.95). There is nearly complete conversion of H to H O, and CO to CO for the reduction
of Fe O to #Fe O #; hence this phase# boundary is not
$ In
% the conversion of wustite to iron,
shown# in$ Fig. 1.
H becomes more effective with increasing tempera# while the opposite is true for CO. This is because
ture,
H reduction is endothermic, while CO reduction is
#
exothermic.
At 820 mC, H and CO have equal capa# gas-based DR processes
bility as reducing gases. Most
use mixtures of CO and H ; and the gas composition
satisfies the equilibrium for# the water-gas reaction:
CO jH
COjH O; Hm at 25 mC l j41 kJ (4)
#
#
#
Solid carbon is not an effective reducing agent for
wustite below about 1000 mC for two reasons. First, the
Gm for reduction to iron and CO is positive up to
about 700 mC; second, the kinetics of Eqn. (3) are slow
below about 1000 mC.
Fig. 1 shows that the product gas from the reduction
of wustite to iron will have about twice as much
(COjH ) as (CO jH O). The high proportion of H
#
# gas from reduction of wustite#
and CO #in the product
to iron is not as serious a limitation in the overall
conversion as it might initially seem. This is because
the gas can be used to reduce hematite to wustite, or be
used as a fuel to provide the necessary heat. In
addition, the exit gas can be processed to remove most
of the CO and H O, and be recycled back into the
#
furnace. #
2.2 Production of Reforming Gas
The data presented in Fig. 1 show that near 900 mC, the
gas in equilibrium with iron and wustite has about
65% (COjH ). This composition is a weak function
of temperature# and the H\C ratio in the gas. To be
effective, a reducing gas for DRI must therefore
contain over 65% (COjH ). The higher the per#

Iron Resources and Direct Iron Production

Figure 1
Fe-O-C (solid) and Fe-O-H (dashed) equilibrium curves
(intersection at about 820 mC). The heavy dashed line
marked ac l 1 is for (pCOjpCO ) l 1 bar. Points W and
# on Fig. 5, and are the
Wh refer to similarly labeled points
(%COj%H ) values at 900 mC for a gas with H\C l 6.
Point W is for# iron-wustite (Fe . O) equilibrium, and
! *&magnetite equilibrium.
point Wh is for wustite (Fe . O)
! ))

centage (COjH ), the more wustite that can be

reduced by a given# amount of gas. Therefore, a major
objective of a gas-based DRI plant is to produce large
quantities of highly reducing gas. This is generally
done by reacting a hydrocarbon feedstock (such as
natural gas) with oxygen-containing gases so that the
desired ratio is obtained. This is called catalytic
reforming, and is carried out in different ways.

(a) Steam reforming. Paraffinic-bonded hydrocarbon

feedstock reacts with steam to form a reducing gas
according to:
CnH n+ jnH O
#
# #

nCOj(2nj1)H
#

(5)

Reforming is carried out over a catalyst above

atmospheric pressure and at temperatures between
750 mC and 1050 mC. Modern plants operating with
improved catalysts use only a slight excess of steam to
produce a gas with over 90% (COjH ). This is
referred to as one-step reforming. Up to 2%# unreacted
CH can be present in the product. Equation (5) is
%
strongly
endothermic: heat is supplied by radiant
burners to heat the reformer tubes, and recuperation
of heat from the flue gas is used to improve the thermal
efficiency. In one-step reforming of natural gas, the
natural gas proportions such that approximately 40%
is used as fuel and 60% is being reformed. Reducer
offgas may be used as a fuel in place of natural gas.
Reforming may also be carried out using dewatered
offgas from the reduction furnace in place of part, or
nearly all, of the steam. In the case of CH , the
%
reforming reaction becomes:
CH jxH Oj(1kx)CO
%
#
#

(2kx)COj(xj2)H (6)
#

(b) Partial oxidation. Paraffinic hydrocarbons can be

oxidized by supplying just enough oxygen to form
CO and H . For methane (CH ):
#
%
CH j"O
COj2H
(7)
% # #
#
Compared to reformer reactions, partial oxidation
produces less gas per unit of hydrocarbon; however it
uses less fuel because Eqn. (7) is slightly exothermic.
Partial oxidation also produces a reducer gas with a
lower H\C ratio. It may also be used on liquid
hydrocarbon feedstock, or even coal. Compared to
steam reforming, higher pressures and temperatures
are typically required to produce a gas with high
(COjH ). Historically, partial oxidation has not been
# in DR processes, but new advances in the
widely used
technology may change this.
(c) In situ reforming. Most gas-based processes take
advantage of the natural catalytic activity of fresh
DRI to carry out some reforming in the reduction
reactor. Oxygen and makeup natural gas are injected
into the reducing gas just before entry to the furnace.
The role of oxygen is to produce some CO , H O,
# hot
#
and heat. Reforming occurs on freshly reduced,
DRI according to a combination of Eqns. (5)(7). In
addition, some carburization of the DRI may occur.
In a recent development, all reforming is carried out
in situ; no reformer is needed. Offgas from the reduction furnace is tempered by removing most of the
water and CO . It is then reheated to about 40 mC
# reducer gas entry temperature. Oxyabove the typical
gen and natural gas are added in the amounts indicated by Eqn. (7). In situ reforming is particularly
attractive for hydrocarbon feedstock with sulfur
levels above those permissible for catalytic reforming. The constant renewal of DRI in the furnace
means that fresh uncontaminated catalyst is always
present for the reforming reactions.
2.3 Product Characteristics
DRI can be produced in powder, pellet, lump, or
briquette form. The powder, pellets, and lumps retain
the shape of the iron oxide material fed into the DR
process. The removal of oxygen leaves voids, giving
the DRI a spongy appearance when viewed through a
microscope. Thus, DRI in these forms has a lower
apparent density, greater porosity, and more surface
area than iron ore. In the hot briquetted form, it is
known as hot briquetted iron (HBI). Fluidized bed
DRI is usually processed to HBI due to the difficulty of
using fines in steelmaking, and the reactivity of fines to
oxygen, even when cool. Typical physical properties of
DRI forms are shown in Table 1.
HBI is produced by molding hot (ca. 700 mC) DRI
into pillow-shaped briquettes using a pocketed roll
press. The lower surface area and higher density of
3

Iron Resources and Direct Iron Production

Table 1
Physical characteristics of forms of DRI.
Parameter
Density (t m$):
bulk
apparent
Porosity (%)
Nominal size (mm)

Pellets\lump

HBI

1.61.9
3.5
50
635

2.42.8
5.05.5
15
30i50i110

HBI makes it 100 times more resistant to reoxidation.

The high density, strength, and minimum water
absorption make it ideally suited for merchant applications where shipping, handling, and storage characteristics are important.
DRI containing several percent C may be produced
where the benefit of added carbon in steelmaking
outweighs the added cost. The carbon can be as iron
carbide (cementite, Fe C), or graphitic carbon. The
$
carbon contained in shaft-furnace
DRI is typically
over 90% Fe C. Fluidized bed processes for producing
iron carbide $from ore fines have been developed, but
none are presently operating.
DRI retains the chemical purity of the iron ore from
which it is produced. It therefore tends to be very low
in residual elements such as copper, chromium, tin,
nickel, and molybdenum. Typical ranges of DRI
chemistry are 9094% total iron, 8389% metallic
iron, 6.59% iron oxide, 0.82.5% carbon, 2.86%
gangue, 0.0050.09% phosphorus, and 0.0010.03%
sulfur.
DRI normally has at least 90% of the oxygen
removed, with the unreduced oxide present as wustite.
Processes producing solid with 90% reduction are
classified as prereduction processes. Prereduced iron is
not acceptable for steelmaking, but can be used as a
feed for ironmaking (e.g., feed for a BF).
Although it is theoretically possible to convert all
the iron oxide to metal, it is not economically feasible.
Reduction slows significantly in the last stages, and to
complete the reduction would require low production
rates. In practice, the DRI is discharged with a small
amount of iron oxide remaining. In addition, during
cooling prior to discharge, iron in the DRI reacts with
the CO and CH in the cooling gas to form cementite
according to: %
2COj3Fe Fe CjCO ;
$
#
Hm at 25 mC l k147 kJ
CH j3Fe Fe Cj2H ;
%
$
#
Hm at 25 mC l j100 kJ

(8)
(9)

The carbon content can be adjusted within limits by

operating changes in the DR process, and is typically
between 1% and 2.5% Calthough it can be higher
by adjusting the composition and amount of cooling
gas. During melting in an EAF, the iron oxide and
carbon in the DRI react to form metallic iron and CO.
The CO evolution enhances the steelmaking reactions,
4

and the oxygen used to oxidize the extra carbon

improves the energy balance. Most steelmakers prefer
slightly more carbon than is required to balance the
remaining iron oxide.
The gangue content of DRI is typically comprised
of oxides such as SiO , Al O , CaO, MgO, TiO , K O,
#
#for$ gas-based processes,
# # is
Na O, MnO, etc., and
#
dictated by the chemistry of the iron ore used. The
phosphorus is normally in the form of P O . Sulfur
# &ore and
content depends on the sulfur level in the
reductant, and the amount of sulfur released or
absorbed by the DRI during reduction. The gangue
content of DRI produced by coal-based processes may
be considerably higher, owing to the retention of some
of the coal ash by the DRI.
When handling, shipping, and storing DRI, care
should be taken to avoid oxidation. This requires the
material be kept cool and dry. If not, oxidation of DRI
can take place by two mechanisms: corrosion and
reoxidation. Corrosion occurs when the metallic iron
in DRI is wetted with fresh or salt water, and reacts
with oxygen from the air to form rust, Fe(OH) . The
$
corrosion reactions continue as long as water
is
present. Corrosion is very exothermic, but as long as
water is present, the temperature does not reach much
above 100 mC. Reoxidation occurs when the warm
metallic iron in corroding DRI reacts with oxygen in
the air to form either Fe O or Fe O . The reaction
$ %remains
# hot,
$ and oxygen
continues as long as the DRI
is available. Owing to the exothermic nature of
reoxidation, and the insulating nature of bulk DRI,
the DRI temperature increases and accelerates the
reoxidation rate. In comparison, HBI is almost twice
as dense as DRI and thus does not absorb much water.
It is much more resistant to corrosion and reoxidation.
Several methods of passivating DRI have been developed, but none are as effective as hot briquetting.
3. Direct Reduction Processes
A wide variety of apparatus has been developed for the
production of DRI: retort furnaces, reverberatory
furnaces, shaft furnaces, rotary kilns, grate kilns,
rotary hearth furnaces, fluidized bed furnaces, electric
furnaces, plasma arc furnaces, and combinations of
these. The only types of apparatus that operate
commercially are the shaft furnace, the fluidized bed
furnace, the rotary kiln, and the rotary hearth furnace.
Four principal processes produce over 95% of the
total DRI. To facilitate discussion of the different
operating processes, broad categories are shown in
Table 2. The principal processes are compared in
Table 3.
3.1

Shaft Furnace Processes

The dominant DR technology involves the shaft

furnace, using reformed natural gas as the reducing

Iron Resources and Direct Iron Production

Table 2
Classification of DRI processes.
Gas reduction
processes
Shaft processes
MIDREX
HYLa
Purofer
Fluidized bed processes
Fior\FINMET
Iron Carbide
Circored

Solid reduction
processes
Rotary kiln processes
Krupp-CODIR
SL\RN
DRC
ACCAR\OSIL
Shaft and hearth processes
Kinglor-Metor
FASTMET
INMETCO

a When using in situ reforming, all reducing gas is generated internally.

agent. The MIDREX and HYL processes together

account for about 90% of all DRI production. Figure
2 shows the main features of the shaft furnace used by
these processes for DRI production. Early versions of
the HYL process used a series of fixed-bed shaft
furnaces, but since 1980, HYL has used a moving bed
shaft furnace. Ore pellets are charged through gas
seals or rotary valves, and preheated in the upper zone
of the furnace. Spent reducing gas exits the top of the
furnace and flows to scrubbers. The DRI is cooled and
carburized in a lower section of the furnace, then
discharged through seals or valves. The cooling gas is
mainly natural gas, with some reformed gas. The DRI
discharge temperature is about 700 mC if charged hot
to a melting furnace or made into HBI, and about
60 mC for cold DRI.
Current versions of the MIDREX and HYL processes differ in the way the reducing gas is prepared. In the
MIDREX process, the top gas is cleaned in a scrubber
which also acts as a dehumidifier to remove much of
the H O. After cleaning, part of the gas is used as a
# rest of the gas is compressed to about 2 bars
fuel. The
gauge, natural gas is added, and the mixture is fed to
the reformer. Steam is not added to the reformer;
instead, the CO and H O in the recycled top gas
# gas according
#
reform the natural
to Eqn. (6). The
reformed gas exits the reformer at 900 mC to 970 mC.
Before entering the shaft furnace, the gas can be
trimmed by adjustments to its temperature and\or
composition. Figure 3 shows a flowsheet for the gas
processing section of a standard MIDREX plant.
In the HYL reformer, the top gas is cleaned and
scrubbed, and then most of the CO is removed. This
# reformer, but
processed top gas is not sent to the
instead is blended with reformer gas produced by
steam reforming of natural gas. Gas leaving the
reformer is cooled to remove water, and mixed with
the cleaned top gas. The blended stream is heated to

900 mC, and may be trimmed by adjustments to
temperature and composition before entering the shaft
furnace. As an alternative, HYL may use in situ
reforming, in which case steam reforming is elim-

Figure 2
Shaft furnace typical of that used by MIDREX and HYL
for gas-based production of DRI. Hot reducing gases from
reformer may be trimmed by additions of oxygen and\or
natural gas. Reducing gas enters shaft furnace around the
periphery at the bottom of the reduction zone through a
bustle pipe that distributes the gases evenly. MIDREX
furnaces have burden feeders below the reduction zone to
assure uniform burden descent and to break up any
clusters that may have formed during reduction. The top
gas scrubber removes dust and most of the water vapor
from the gas.

inated, and natural gas and oxygen are added to the

heated top gas and reformed in contact with DRI in
the shaft furnace. Figure 4 shows a flowsheet for the
gas processing section of a standard HYL plant.

(a) Shaft furnace reactions. The relationship between

the transfer of oxygen from solid to gas in a countercurrent shaft furnace can be shown by a Rist diagram. Here the degree of oxidation of the solid is
plotted versus the degree of oxidation of the gas. A
gas of some initial degree of oxidation XR enters the
reduction furnace and removes oxygen from an incoming solid to produce DRI of some degree of oxidation YR. Because the moles of gas and moles of
iron remain constant, there is a linear relationship between the change in degree of oxidation of the solid
and gas. This line is called the operating line for the
process.
The degree of oxidation of the gas X can be
expressed as a ratio of moles of oxidized gas per mole
5

Iron Resources and Direct Iron Production

Table 3
Comparison of the principal direct reduction processes. Data based on 2000 production figures of 43 Mt.
Parameter

MIDREX

HYL

SL\RN

Fior\FINMET

World production (10' t)

Reduction vessel
Reductant source
Iron oxide form
DRI:
form
metallization (%)
carbon content (%)
Reduction:
temperature (mC)
pressure (kPa)
time (h)
Reformer type
Reducing gas H\C ratio
Reducing gas
(H jCO)\(H OjCO )
# residence# time (h)#a
Mean
Range unit capacity installed
(10' t yr")
Consumption per ton of DRI:
iron oxide (t)
natural gas (GJ) (LHV)
coal (t)
electricity (kWh)
water (m$)

29 (68%)
Shaft
Natural gas
Pellet\lump

9.5 (22%)
Shaft
Natural gas
Pellet\lump

1.2 (2.8%)
Rotary kiln
Coal
Pellet\lump

1.0 (2.3%)
Fluidized bed
Natural gas
Sized fines

Pellet\lump or HBI
9295
13.5

Pellet\lump or HBI
9295
0.55.5

Pellet\lump
9293
0.20.5

HBI
9293
11.5

7601000
30
46
Catalytic H OjCO
#
#
34
1112

8501030
500
46
Catalytic steam
819
1119

10001100
0
810
None

690780
1120
67
Catalytic steam
910
1214

57
0.331.5

68
0.251.1

810
0.040.18

1.52
0.4

1.42
9.4

1.45
1011

1.47

1.6c
1527

95115
1.21.5

090
1.8

0.8b
6080
23

250
2.5

a Based on ore entry to DRI discharge. b Dolomite is also added at the rate of 60 kg t" of DRI. c Increased consumption caused by need to reject
ore below certain size.

Table 4
Heat effects for major parts of the shaft furnace production of DRI for the conditions shown as solid line on Fig. 5. Heat
loss is 150 kJ.
Process

Heat effect

Cool 110 moles of reducing gas from 930m to 25 mC (23.7% CO, 71.3% H , 1.2% CO , 3.8% H O)
#
Reduce 15.23 moles (2.43 kg) of Fe O to DRI at 25 mC (92.7% Fe, 7.3% #Fe . O) #
#
$
!
*&
Heat 110 moles of product gas to 330 mC (8.0% CO, 47.2% H , 10.1% CO , 34.7% H O)
#
#
#
Heat 30.56 moles (1.73 kg) of DRI to 910 mC

of gas. The degree of oxidation of the iron Y is

expressed as a ratio of the atoms of oxygen per atom of
iron:
X l (CO jH O)\(CO jH OjCOjH ) (10)
#
#
#
#
#
Y l (1.5Fe$+jFe#+)\Fe l O\Fe
(11)
Figure 5 shows a Rist diagram (Rist and Bonnivard
1963) for the reduction of hematite in a countercurrent
shaft furnace at 900 mC using a mixed reducing gas of
H\C l 6. The dashed line represents conditions for
complete reduction of hematite to iron (YR l 0) with
an incoming gas consisting only of CO and H (XR l
0). The critical operating parameter is given# by the
value of X at point W, the value of which depends on
temperature and the H\C ratio in the gas as given by
the equilibrium constants of equations used in constructing Fig. 1. The operating line must pass through,
6

k3060 kJ
750 kJ
1110 kJ
1050 kJ

or to the left of, point W. For a very reducible ore and

long residence times, the operating line will pass
through point W. For a gas having a H\C ratio of 6
and ideal conditions as described above, three moles of
reducing gas are required to produce one mole of iron.
The extension of the operating line to the top of the
diagram gives the degree of oxidation of the gas
leaving the top of the shaft. The distance between the
operating line and the phase boundary lines on a Rist
diagram indicates the difference in oxygen potential
between the gas and solid. Clearly, the gas above point
W is highly reducing to the solid charge all the way to
the top.
The shaft furnace operates at greatest efficiency
when the operating line passes closest to point W.
However, at the high gas flows used to achieve the
desired throughput rate, the gas never reaches equilibrium with the solid. The operating line of a practical

Iron Resources and Direct Iron Production

Figure 3
Major unit operations for the gas processing section of a
typical MIDREX plant. The top gas is divided into
streams at splitter SP. Natural gas is added to the stream
sent to the reformer. The other part of the stream is used
as fuel for the reformer burner B. The flue gas from the
reformer heater (shown as a dotted line) is used to preheat
the burner air and the gas to the reformer.

furnace therefore always passes to the left of point W.

In reality, the incoming gas is slightly oxidized and the
product is not completely metallized. The operating
line for this situation is shown in Fig. 5 as a solid line
with an incoming gas XR l 0.05 and DRI leaving at
YR l 0.06. The operating line was drawn at 110% of
the gas that would have been required had the
operating line passed through point W. This condition
requires 3.83 moles of reducing gas to produce DRI
containing 1 mole of metallic iron.
As important as the equilibrium constraints are
those posed by the heat balance. The incoming gas
must bring in sufficient thermal energy to heat the ore
to its reduction temperature (commonly
900 mC),
and to provide heat for the chemical reactions. The
calculated heat effects for the main parts of a typical
shaft furnace reduction process are shown in Table 4.
The incoming gas at 930 mC is 95% (COjH ) (XR l
#
0.05), and is 110% of the amount of reducing
gas
required by an operating line passing through point W
at 900 mC. The DRI product is 92.7% metallic iron (YR
l 0.06) and exits the reduction zone at 910 mC. A heat
loss of 150 kJ (10 kJ per mole of Fe O in) is assumed.
# $

Figure 4
Major unit operations of the gas processing section of a
typical HYL plant. Top gas is split into two streams (SP),
one for use as part of the burner fuel (with natural gas,
NG) to heat the reducer gas, and the other as feed to the
reformer after CO removal (in SC). Additional reducing
gas is produced in #a standard steam reformer, then
dewatered in quencher Q, and added to the cleaned top
gas. Reformer steam is produced in a series of boilers and
heat exchangers, with heat from the reformer flue gas
(shown as dotted lines) and hot water (shown as dashed
line). An alternate HYL reducing gas process uses in situ
reforming to replace the steam reformer circuit. Natural
gas is added before HX1, and oxygen is added to the hot
reducing gas before it enters the shaft furnace.

3.2 Fluidized Bed Processes

A fluidized bed is a well-stirred reactor, characterized
by excellent gas-solid contact, and uniformity of
temperature and composition across the bed. Fluidized bed processes accounts for about 2% of DRI
produced. Gas utilization in a single bed process is
unfavorable, so all commercial processes use two or
more beds in series; the gases and solids flow countercurrently. Fluidized bed processes are typically used
next to sources of iron ore, thus saving the cost of
pelletizing. The product DRI is almost always converted to HBI.
The CIRCORED process uses two fluidized beds
for reduction. The ore is preheated in two fluidized
beds, and then prereduced in a circulating fluidized
bed reactor, with high gas velocities and a retention
time of 2030 minutes. The prereduced ore then passes
into a conventional fluidized bed reactor for final
reduction. After a retention time of 24 hours, it is
flash-heated to 680 mC prior to roll briquetting. The
operating pressure is 4 bars gauge, and the temperature
is kept below 630 mC to prevent sticking. Natural gas is
used as a feedstock to a steam reformer with a CO
#
7

Iron Resources and Direct Iron Production

Figure 6
Sketch of flowsheet for rotary kiln production of DRI,
typical of that used in the SL\RN and CODIR processes.
The flux is a mixture of raw dolomite and limestone.
Figure 5
Rist diagram for a continuously operating shaft furnace
with reduction taking place at 900 mC with a reducing gas
of H\C l 6. The Y-axis is the O\Fe in the solid (in this
case, hematite feed), and the X-axis is the degree of
oxidation of the reducing gas. The dashed line is the
operating line for idealized complete metallization of
hematite with a reducing gas consisting only of CO and
H , and reaching equilibrium with wustite and iron at
# W (see corresponding points W and Wh on Fig. 1).
point
The solid line represents an operating line for a practical
process, producing DRI with YR l 0.06 and using an
initial reducing gas of XR l 0.05. Gas flow is 110% of that
required for an operating line passing through point W.
Point Wh represents conditions of solid wustite of Fe . O,
! ))with
and point M represents solid magnetite in equilibrium
wustite. Point Mh represents magnetite in equilibrium with
hematite, and point H represents the incoming hematite.
The intersection of the operating line with the top axis
represents the degree of oxidation of the gas exiting the
furnace (after Rist and Bonnivard 1963).

removal system, such that the reducing gas is mainly

hydrogen.
The Fior\FINMET process consists of a fluidized
bed dryer, four reducing reactors, and a roll briquetter.
The reducing gas is produced by steam reforming of
natural gas, in a manner similar to that shown in Fig.
4. Reactor temperatures range from 550 mC in the
prereduction reactor to 780800 mC in the final reduction reactor. The throughput is enhanced by
operating at pressures between 11 and 13 bars gauge;
this greatly decreases the linear gas flow as compared
to lower pressure operation. Ore fines between 13 mm
and 150 m are preferred.
8

3.3 Kiln Processes

The rotary kiln is a revolving horizontal cylinder
comprising a shell with an internal refractory lining.
The furnace is inclined at an angle of 34 degrees from
the horizontal, so the burden travels through the
furnace by rotation and gravity. Coal, flux, and ore
(lump or pellets) enter the high end of the kiln, and
pass into a heating zone where the coal is devolatilized,
the flux is calcined, and the ore is preheated to the
reduction temperature. A retention time of several
hours is required. The ore is reduced in the reduction
zone according to Eqn. (1), while a portion of the
additional CO is generated by Eqn. (3). Part of the
process heat is supplied by combustion of coal volatiles
and CO leaving the bed with air introduced into the
free space above the bed, and partly by combustion of
coal or other fuel at the discharge end burner with a
deficiency of air. The temperature profile in the kiln is
controlled by radial air ports in the preheating zone,
and axial air ports in the reduction zone. The product
is cooled in a rotary cooler, and screened and
magnetically separated to recover the DRI and char.
DRI fines are briquetted, and the char is recycled to
the kiln to increase fuel efficiency. The offgases from
the kiln are cleaned and burned in an afterburner.
Kiln DR processes (mainly SL\RN and CODIR)
account for about 8% of worldwide DRI production.
The processes are similar except for the method of
cooling. A flowsheet of a typical kiln process is shown
in Fig. 6. The latest installations incorporate a waste
heat boiler to recover energy from the kiln offgas.

Iron Resources and Direct Iron Production

4. Further Developments
Recent gains in productivity and decreased coke
consumption in BFs mean that the BF will continue to
dominate iron production for the foreseeable future.
However, DR processes offer a high purity scrap
substitute for EAF steelmaking where natural gas
prices are low, and scrap prices justify. The increased
fraction of steel produced by the EAF indicates that
DRI production will likely increase faster than total
steel production. Recent improvements in shaft-furnace DRI processes involve the use of flux-coated
pellets, which allow higher temperature, greater
productivity, and increased oxygen injection (which
decreases specific energy consumption). Current coalbased DRI processes have not established a generally
competitive position and, unless significant technological improvements are made, their commercial
adoption will occur only in special and limited circumstances. One emerging coal-based technology is
the rotary hearth furnace, in which pellets of coal and
iron ore are heated above 1300 mC by natural gas
burners for a retention time of less than 13 minutes.
The hot pellets may be melted in an EAF to produce
pig iron, or charged hot to an EAF steelmaking
furnace.
Another challenge to the BF comes from a variety of
smelting reduction processes, such as the COREX and
HIsmelt processes. Their advantage comes from the
ability to use coal as a reductant instead of the more
costly and environmentally problematic coke required
by the BF. Smelting reduction processes separate
reduction and smelting into two reactors. Coal, oxygen

(or preheated oxygen enriched air), prereduced ore,

and flux are charged to the smelting furnace, where hot
metal, slag, and an offgas of high (COjH ) content is
# gas in a
produced. This offgas is used as the reducing
separate shaft or fluidized bed prereduction furnace.
Smelting reduction may play a future role where
coking coals are in short supply, or cokemaking is
restricted because of stringent environmental regulations. It may also play a role in rounding out the
capacity of a plant where hot metal needs are insufficient to justify the addition of a new BF. A BF is not
economical at less than 2 000 000 Mt\yr, while smelting reduction may be economical at a quarter of this.
See also: Metal Extraction : Phase Stability Diagrams

Bibliography
Centre for Research in Computational Thermochemistry
(CRCT) http:\\www.crct.polymtl.ca\fact\fact.htm
Feinman J, MacRae D (eds.) 1999 Direct Reduced Iron
Technology and Economics of Production and Use. The Iron
and Steel Society, Warrendale, PA
HYLSAMEX http:\\www.hylsamex.com.mx\HYL
MIDREX http:\\www.midrex.com
Rist A, Bonnivard G 1963 Reduction of an iron oxide bed with
a gas. Re. Metall. 60, 2327. BISI Trans. No. 3679
US Geological Survey 2000 Minerals Yearbook for Iron and
Steel, Iron and Steel Scrap, and Iron Ore. US Geological
Survey, Reston, VA
Wakelin D H (ed.) 1999 The Making, Shaping and Treating of
Steel. Ironmaking Volume. 11th edn. AISE Foundation,
Pittsburgh, PA

A. E. Morris

Copyright ' 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd.

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Encyclopedia of Materials : Science and Technology
ISBN: 0-08-0431526
pp. 43024310
9