Luxembourg-based plantmaker Paul Wurth has announced that, together with its consortium partner Midrex Technologies, Inc., a subsidiary of Japanese steelmaker Kobe Steel, Ltd., it will supply one of the world’s largest direct reduced iron-making (DRI) plants, to be located in Bellara, Algeria, to the jointly owned Algerian-Qatari company Algerian Qatari Steel (AQS). The new DRI plant will be part of the overall steel complex that will produce two million mt of rebar and wire rod.
The DRI plant will be designed to produce 2.5 million mt of DRI with the capability to vary its production to produce hot direct reduced iron (HDRI) and/or cold direct reduced iron (CDRI) simultaneously without stoppage of production. The plant will provide the AQS steelmaking facility with greater production flexibility to produce high quality, low impurity steels, as well as decrease demand for imported scrap.
AQS is a joint venture between Algerian state-owned steelmaker Sider Co. and Algeria’s National Investment Fund (combined 51 percent) and Qatar-based Qatar Steel International (49 percent).