Azerbaijan, Baku, Feb.12/ Trend, F. Milad
Iran will inaugurate a sponge iron production unit in the Central city of Ardakan in the near future, the Iranian Mines & Mining Industries Development & Renovation Organization (IMIDRO) announced on Tuesday.
Once the unit comes on line, some 800,000 tons of sponge iron would be added to the country's output capacity, the IRNA News Agency reported.
The project will be completed at the cost of 200 million Euros and 2 trillion Rials (some $163 based on the official rate of USD).
Last month, IMIDRO announced that four steel projects will be launched in the first half of the next Iranian calendar year starting on March 20.
Once the projects come on line, some 4 million tons would be added to the country's sponge iron output capacity.
The projects will be completed at a cost of 458 million Euros and 10.16 trillion Rials (some $828.7 based on the official rate of dollar).
Chairman of IMIDRO, Fereydoon Ahmadi said in November, 2012 that through the implementation of the sponge iron manufacturing unit of the Mobarakeh Steel Company, the country's sponge iron production capacity increased by 1.5 million tons.
"Once the sponge iron manufacturing unit at Saba steel factory comes on line, another one million tons of sponge iron or so would be added to the nation's annual sponge iron output capacity," he said.
Direct-reduced iron (DRI), also called sponge iron, is produced from the direct reduction of iron ore (in the form of lumps, pellets or fines) by a reducing gas produced from natural gas or coal.
The reducing gas is a mixture of mainly hydrogen (H2) and carbon monoxide (CO) which acts as reducing agent. This process of directly reducing the iron ore in solid form by reducing gases is called direct reduction.
In September 2012, IRIB quoted Fereydoun Ahmadi as saying that implementing indigenized technology projects has saved some $750 million during the past five years.
Ahmadi added that projects were related to steel, copper, and aluminum industries.
During the past two years, 228 projects have been implemented in the steel industry, he said, adding that 5,512 jobs have also been created.