On October 26, 2016, the direct reduction plant in Corpus Christi, Texas, was officially opened after a construction period of just over two and a half years. The new plant comprises an area of two square kilometers, has its own deep-sea port, and is considered the largest and most modern facility of its kind in the world.
After successful test runs in the first quarter, the run-up phase of the Steel Division’s first plant in North America was launched at the beginning of the second quarter of the current business year. The first HBI was produced on September 28, 2016. It is expected to reach full operating performance in the third quarter of 2016/17 with ongoing delivery to customers. The plant is slated to produce two million tons of high quality HBI (hot briquetted iron or sponge iron) annually, a sophisticated pre-material for steel production. 800,000 tons will be used in voestalpine’s own plants. The first shipload will leave Corpus Christi for Europe before the end of the calendar year.
The new plant opens up new potential for the future not just with regard to cost and technology; supplying existing voestalpine blast furnaces and steel plants with HBI that was manufactured using gas instead of coal will also enable a reduction of CO2 emissions by around 5% across the voestalpine Group.
* This report is a translation of the original report in German, which is solely valid.
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