Tuwairqi Steel Mills Limited (TSML), a subsidiary of Al Tuwairqi Holding of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and STX Corporation of South Korea have agreed to collaborate, in a bid to advance TSML's DRI Plant by producing HBI as well. The two parties have reached a consensus during the recent meeting at TSML's head office where Zaigham Adil Rizvi, Director (Projects), TSML and Sang-min HAN, Team Leader, STX Corporation have signed an MoM.
Under this MoU, STX will support TSML in producing Hot-Briquetted iron (HBI) as well from TSML's DRI Plant. HBI is a manufactured product with an identifiable production cost structure and year-round operation (no collection season like scrap), which allows producers the option to offer long-distance supply contracts.
On this occasion, Sang-min HAN, Team Leader, STX Corporation said, "We foresee an export potential to South Korea, Japan and China for HBI, produced in TSML, in the range of around 0.4 MTPA - 0.5 MTPA." He informed that the use of low residual, high Fe content HBI, in combination with scrap and other metals such as pig iron, provides steelmakers more control over their cost of liquid steel when producing any grade of steel and the ability to compete in markets that are beyond the scope of a total scrap practice. He was of the view that currently, Pakistan is among the countries that rely mostly on imports, when it comes to heavy mechanical structures and engineering goods. "By producing high-quality steel within Pakistan, such equipment can be manufactured locally by value addition with the help of downstream industries," he concluded.
Zaigham Adil Rizvi, Director (projects), TSML said, "DRI/HBI contains around 94% iron with very little impurities, which are removable. According to the latest statistics, DRI/HBI production, world-wide, has increased from 44 million tons in 2000, to over 56 million tons in 2010. There is a consistent growth in the production of DRI/HBI over the years, owing to its environment-friendly production processes, consistent quality of the product and above all, the most optimum utilisation of the energy content (BTUs) of natural gas at around 86 percent.-PR