Iran's Persian Gulf Saba Steel Inaugurates First HBI Plant of Iran

Persian Gulf Saba steel, one of the largest steel plant of Iran has inaugurated the first phase of HBI Plant. This plant with direct reduction Iron method is commissioned with Midrex technology of HBI. Currently company has the production capacity of 1.5 MnT of steel billets, and planning to expand the capacity to 4.5 MnT.

The first phase of HBI Plant of Persian Gulf Saba Steel was inaugurated by the President Hassan Rouhani and was attended by the assistant ministers of industry, mining and trade. According to Saba Steel Managing Director Morteza Yazdkhasti, Persian Gulf Saba Steel complex, the Iranian HBI plant has a production capacity of 1.5 MnT per year.

Mr. Yazdkhasti said that this is Saba Steel's first development phase of a total of three, which is meant to bring the steelmaker's total output capacity to 5 million tons.

Dr. Mehdi Karbassian, Chairman of The Board, Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization (IMIDRO), stated that "The first phase of the Persian Gulf Saba Steel project will result in the production of 1.5 MnT of sponge iron (hot briquettes) with 283 direct employees."

He announced that the investment of project is around 6,720 billion Rials and said: "This project has been funded by the investment company and the state pension fund. He continued that "The launch of this project has been the opening of the first unit of the production of HBI with an export approach in Hormozgan province of Iran.

Hot briquetted iron is a relatively new product, developed in the past 25 years, as a supplement for pig iron and scrap in EAF steel mills. It is a compacted form of DRI, which is easier in handling, storage and use. HBI was developed to overcome the problems associated with shipping and handling of DRI. Due to the process of compaction, it is less porous and therefore less reactive than DRI and does not suffer from the risk of self-heating associated with DRI.

Inputs taken from Financial Tribune
Picture Credit - Persian Gulf Saba Steel