Technical innovation and production practice of hydrogen-based direct reduction ironmaking process

Hydrogen energy is a clean energy with a broad prospect in this century, and the application of hydrogen-containing energy is also one of the important development directions of energy structure transformation. Under the requirement of "carbon neutrality" policy, China's iron and steel industry has built a new energy system of "hydrogen rich and carbon reduction", which has become the main trend of the current industry. Based on the PERED technology of Iran, China Shanxi Direct Reduction Iron (CSDRI) was developed with more than 10 years (kick off in 2010 and first try on December 2020) with full intellectual property rights. The process uses oxidized pellets as raw material and coke oven gas as reduction gas source, completely eliminating the use of coke, coal, and sinter, reducing carbon use from the source, and effectively reducing the generation of pollutants. Compared with traditional blast furnace ironmaking processes, production operating costs have certain advantages, and the carbon emissions have been significantly reduced. The factory layout is compact, resulting in great land savings. This process effectively utilizes coke oven gas and promotes the integration of the coking and ironmaking industries. This paper introduced the fundamental theory of CSDRI process and the plant operation conditions of the CSDRI plant. The technical innovations and product quality of the CSDRI plant are also introduced in detail. CSDRI showed the characteristics of green, low-carbon and high efficiency, and provides important guidance for the development of hydrogen based reduction ironmaking technology in China. It provides a new roadmap for the transformation and upgrading, the adjustment of product structure and the improvement of steel quality for the Chinese steel industry.