MODERN STEEL PRODUCTION TRENDS AND DEVELOPMENT DIRECTIONS

Metallurgical science has been developing alternative methods of extracting iron from ore materials for a long time. In the 50s of the last century, scientists thought that they would quickly find highly efficient solutions to replace the blast furnace process of iron production, but the reality was completely different.First, all new methods of metallization were expensive, could not compete with the blastfurnace in terms of productivity and cost of production. In addition, in the second half of the 20thcentury, electric steel smelting technologies based on the use of steel scraps were developed soactively that they had a significant impact on the future of direct iron production.And since the recovery of iron from its oxides using the DRI technology requires a lot ofenergy, the placement of such production facilities was possible only in areas with access to cheap energy sources and affordable reserves of natural gas.However, in 1965, experimental tests of such production methods began, and until thebeginning of the 21st century, white and black metallurgy began to produce directly reduced iron onan industrial scale. [1]The leaders in the production of metallized raw materials are the countries of India, the Middle East and Latin America.Inthecurrentmonthof March2024, 9.56 milliontonsof relevant products wereproduced in13 countries that directly produce iron. [2]The total production of DRI and HBI is estimated to be around 60 million tonnes worldwide, currently at around 90-100 million tonnes according to various estimates, and this figure ispredictedto nearly double by 2030.This strong growth is mainly due to innovation and the development of new methods of direct metallurgy.First, back in the 80s and 90s, it was possible to use natural gas, gaseous byproducts of oil production, and other types of fuel as a regenerator.Second, costs at various stages of DRI production have decreased, which has led to a slight decrease in the cost of such a product.However, in recent years the environmental initiatives I described above have played an important role in the development of DRI production.Representatives of metallurgical science and environmental experts decide that decarbonization of ferrous metallurgy should be started with widespread introduction of direct iron normalization technologies, whichwill allowto reduce emissions and turnthe process of steel smeltingin the "green direction".