Suez Steel has achieved a new best value for energy consumption at its Direct Reduction Plant (DRP) based on ENERGIRON Zero-Reformer (ZR) technology. The plant is among the first large-scale industrial applications of this technology and operates with high metallization rates while ensuring direct hot feeding to the meltshop.
The ENERGIRON ZR process, jointly developed by Tenova and Danieli, enables flexible gas-based reduction of iron ore pellets with high metallization and a compact plant footprint. Through continuous operational optimization and accumulated expertise, Suez Steel has reached natural gas consumption levels slightly below 2.2 Gcal per ton (8.73 MBTU/ton) on a consistent basis over several months of continuous operations.
A key contribution to these results comes from the integration of the captive pellet plant recently commissioned by Suez Steel, which supplies high-quality pellets with optimal reducibility characteristics, ensuring stable and efficient DRP operation.
Statements from the company and the technology partner
"We are collecting the fruits of our works and our growing expertise in the field of pelletizing and iron making; these results confirm the potential of the company Suez Steel and of Egypt to reach excellency in steel industry," stated Rafic Daou, Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Suez Steel.
Mr. Zulfikar, Technical Manager of Suez Steel, added: "This result has been the achievement of all the team steadily focused in seeking the best performance through relentless commitment on continuous improvement and technology development in constant partnership with our technology partners of ENERGIRON."
Marco Lapasin, VP Danieli Centro Metallics, stated: "We are proud of these results that show the potential of the ENERGIRON process, especially when the management and the team is devoted to production and to investigate the best synergies to push the process closer to its theoretical limit. We praise this approach, and we are glad when we can contribute to the success of such an important partner like Suez Steel."
Significance for more sustainable steelmaking
The result establishes a global benchmark for energy efficiency in gas-based direct reduction and contributes to the advancement of more sustainable steelmaking by supporting reduced carbon emissions and improved environmental performance.
