While major steel producing countries are highly interested in the net zero goal ahead, the direct reduced iron production turns out to soar as well because of its close linking to the transition to the EAF steelmaking process. And at the same time worries about supply crunch for high quality iron ore which is universally used for the direct reduced iron production. According to the World Steel Association, the February direct reduced iron production globally totaled 8.6 million tons which slipped 11.2 percent a month ago, increasing as much as 7.6 percent a year ago. The largest direct reduced iron producing country is India among the major producing countries in the world, soaring the 17.9 percent year on year direct reduced iron production to 4.2 million tons. The world DRI production surged over a couple of years past, totaling 136.4 million tons last year, which surged 65.3 percent over 2014. The world DRI production will reach 411 million tons in 2050, International Energy Association forecast in this respect. The major cause to elevate the world DRI production is tied to the paradigm in the steel production in order to reduce the carbon emission by 80~95 percent maximum till 2050. At present, world steel industry forecasts that the major ironmaking process will be at the heart of the EAF process which uses DRI far more for its chief raw materials rather using iron ore. According to the survey conducted by Iron Metallics Association, the iron ore that is necessary for the DRI production must be qualified for more than 66 percent Fe at least, meaning that the 1.45 tons high quality iron ore is necessary for producing a ton of direct reduced iron.
by swkim
