PERED is stands head and shoulder above competitors
The head of the Tehran branch of the Mines and Metals Company (MME) noted that Iranian direct reduction technology (PERED) in all respects such as the degree of metallization of the product, consumption, operating costs and ease of operation compared to similar technologies is stands head and shoulder above and in other words, is a masterwork of the Iranian steel industry.
Hossein Aziz Taemeh, in an interview with a reporter of the news and analytical site “Metals Online”, added that Mining and Metals Engineering Company (MME) has registered a new technology in direct reduction and production of sponge iron in several units which is called PERED. As soon as this technology was used in our country and several production units including Shadegan Steel, Miyaneh Steel, Neyriz Steel and Baft Steel; the main difference with other technologies was the high and tangible quality of the merchandise, called sponge iron metallization, which was reached above 95% on the initial day. In other technologies, however, it is very difficult to achieve a degree of metallization above 95% during the first months of unit operation.
He emphasized that “PERED technology showed the highest production efficiency and purity in the part of products in comparison to other technologies during the first few days of launching.” Meanwhile, another observed issue in this technology compared to similar technologies was the reduction of water, electricity and gas consumption; thus, the amount of consumption shows a reduction of at least 10%, and even in some units, the reduction of consumption reached 20% in these items. Moreover, another advantage of this technology is the higher amount of carbon in the product, which is appropriate for businesses too.
The head of Tehran branch of MME company also mentioned that The amount of water consumption in the standard units of sponge iron is about 1.2 cubic meters per tonne of manufactured goods. While the amount of water consumption in PERED technology reaches a maximum of 0.85 to 0.9 cubic meters per tonne after a few months of authorizing. The same is also true for electricity and gas, and their rates were lower for similar technologies.
According to the important point of PERED technology, Aziz Taiemeh said that Ease of operation is one of the differences of PERED technology. In our country, nearly all straight resuscitation units that functioned before the flood belonged to MIDREX. As a result, the workers who worked on these units for many years, had imperative experiences and were familiar with the details of MIDREX technology. When these users became acquainted with the technology of the PERED, they acknowledged that it is much easier to utilize the technology in order to work in this regard. Teherfore, when the operation unit stops for any reason, the unit returns to production and normal conditions easily and quickly then after. It should be noted that the investment cost of a unit with PERED technology is approximately 10% lower than comparable technologies.
Better performance of the PERED than other technologies
The head of the Tehran branch of MME Company by pointing at the existing technologies regarding to direct resuscitation units, stated that There are currently two types of direct resuscitation technologies in the world; One is units based on gas and the other is based on coal. Direct coal recovery units are commonly employed in India and China. In coal units, methods such as RHF as well as rotary kilns are utilized, which have rotary kilns similar to cement factories. In contrary, base gas units have two process to supply gas systems, one that uses natural gas, such as MIDREX and HYL and PERED, and the other applies synthetic gas, which consists of gas generated from coke. At the present time, direct resuscitation of MME unit in China employs coke gas to regenerate iron ore conglomerate into sponge iron.
Aziz Taemeh pointed out that The technology of the type of primary gas is the most common type for direct reduction units that use natural gas or synthetic gas to reduce the iron ore pellets. The first technology created in the world in this regard was called HYL. The technology was developed by a Mexican company that retained a steel plant. Though, the company was unsuccessful to develop HYL technology and market appropriately. Consequently, this technology could not be widespread. HYL was eventually attained by Danieli and Tanwa and is currently functioning under the name Iron Energy Company. In fact, the company’s market is better in comparison to the past. After the failure of this technology, MIDREX came to the market, and by using the same assumptions and making improvements and innovations, this technology was quite similar to HYL and was able to introduce a new method to the market.
He also noted that The method of PERED is the same. This technology could be recorded the experience of previous methods. In better words, the invented wheel cannot be re-invented. Meanwhile, PERED method employed the long-standing exploitation knowledge that existed in Iran. It is worth noting that Iran is the largest manufacturer of basic gas sponge iron in the world. This led to a very deep technical knowledge of examination among MME specialists. Merging this knowledge with the experience of previous technologies led to the creation of a new technology in 2006 called PERED, which was registered in Germany. It is notable that the registration of a technology in Germany has been a time-consuming process. Thus, the technology was exposed to well-known companies with direct regeneration technology to make claims if they had the technology. Though, owing to the distinctive features of the PERED, none of them have and claimed to have this technology. Therefore, PERED technology successfully registered in Germany and globalized.
The head of the Tehran branch of MME Company also declared that If a technology has momentous and fundamental fluctuations in comparison to similar methods, it can be registered as a new technology. PERED technology introduced more than 25% change and innovation compared to other similar technologies. For instance, in the foremost part of the technology, there were moderately large changes in the direct reduction furnace. Main changes were employed in areas such as the crushers, the cooling system, the charging system, and etc. In fact, we have already seen other changes in other equipment in PERED technology such as compressors and water vapor recuperates and etc. The reason that makes the operation of PERED technology easier than other technologies is the former equipment.
He added thar: “The Mining and Metals Engineering Company was registered in Germany under the name of MME in 1996, and PERED technology was registered in 2006. The usual capacities of sponge iron units at that time were around 800,000 tonnes.” Thus, the units pertained to PERED technology is installed anbout 800,000 tonnes, however, we have the ability to upgrade, installation as well as the previous plant for a capacity of 1.2 million tonnes. In addition, we have begun the design process for the 1,600,000 to 2 million tonne mega modules, which we hope to be designed and delivered by the end of this year.
MME plans for a stronger presence in the steel industry
According to the plans of the Mining and Metals Engineering Company in international markets, Aziz Taemeh reported: “We are presently building a 300,000 tonnes direct recovery unit in China. The equipment built in Iran and transferred to China.” Meanwhile, the installation of many equipment such as furnaces has been accomplished and it appears that this unit will be put into operation by the end of this year. In fact, steelmakers in the Persian Gulf, Russia and other steel countries have visited direct reduction units, and they have all been astonished at presentation of this technology.
The head of the Tehran branch of MME Company declared that Most of the steel mills in the Persian Gulf countries and even some in Russia have American investors and because of the owners of MME Company, Iranian and sanctions, the situation becomes even worse and they cannot come into a contract with our company. Therefore, we have had offers to sell the technology and register it in the name of other companies accordingly. Fortunately, these suggestions have not been admitted by the leaders of the company, because when the right to register this technology leaves Iran, it will have practically no benefit for our country, and the attempts of its engineers, specialists and leaders will be misused.
Aziz Taemeh added that the growth of technology has been quicker than its lifespan. He also clarified that looking at comparable technologies, it can be seen that some of them are about 70 years old. This is while the lifespan of curtain technology from its emergence until now, 2006 to 2020, is around 15 years. Thus, PERED technology is not very old in comparison to other technologies, and units with this technology have been employed since three years ago. Of course, this technology could have been further developed in the country, but the important point is that the technology has strong competitors. PERED now contests with the American MIDREX in Iran. MIDREX has spent a great deal of money to attain this position and has held two conferences and seminars in Iran to announce and increase its technology. Similarly, changing attitudes in the country’s steel industry is time consuming.
He reminded that when MIDREX was holding a conference in Iran, people had expressed doubts about the success of MIDREX technology. After the movement and success in the performance of this technology, although it was asserted that it was a copy of MIDREX, MIDREX did not claim this technology as well as PERED technology to be registered in Germany and other countries. Thus, MIDREX itself has never claimed to be a copy of Iranian technology.
We have three projects underway
Referring to the proven performance of coating technology in direct reduction units, the head of Tehran branch of MME company declared that Russia has a long history in the steel industry and is now among the top 10 countries in the field of steel manufacture. The country sent a group of engineers to Iran to visit PERED technology, and they were surprised by the performance of this technology; Meanwhile, other experts and managers of the steel industry in Iran and the world have accepted that PERED has a better position as compared to its powerful opponents. In addition, other visits have been made by experts from other countries to direct resuscitation plants and all of them have had an auspicious opinion about the products and excellent performance of this technology.
Aziz Taemeh stated that in the opening of the direct reduction unit of Shadegan Steel, as the first sponge iron production unit with PERED technology, it was asserted that PERED is the masterwork of Iran’s steel industry. Particularly from a financial point of view, the current issue of MME is financial capacity, because fundamentally the capacity of Iranian companies in the financial sector is relatively restricted, and in fact, it seems difficult to compete with similar companies such as Kobe Steel. If this technology, steel executives, public, and private executives are not supported, it may be marginalized and even demolished. On the other hand, it has taken many years to register this technology and reach its current level. Moreover, it cannot be survived without support. Of course, in previous years, the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Trade had first informed the steel industry that in sponge iron units of less than one million tonnes in the country, only single use PERED technology is allowed.
He added that not only the four direct reduction units, but also unit number 2 of direct reduction of woven steel is to be implemented by PERED technology. The contract for this project has been signed and has practically entered the engineering phase and to some extent has been conducted. We desire that Miyaneh 2 project will be activated soon applying this technology. Meanwhile, MME Company has taken part in the Mega module Kurdistan Steel project, which is to be constructed with the participation of IMIDRO and numerous other companies, and has been accepted by the project implementation employer. It seems that this project will be run by the end of this year.
The head of Tehran branch of MME Company said that PERED technology is at the beginning of its path and should be supported. This support can even be in the form of either advertising or cultural provision. The country’s steel managers should not be worried about technology development and should take direct action to accomplish local and Iranian technology confidently.