Mesabi Nugget: The World's First Commercial ITmk3~R Plant

摘要

ITmk3~R is a rotary hearth furnace ironmaking technology that uses coal to produce a premium-quality pig iron product. Steel Dynamics Inc. (SDI) and Kobe Steel Ltd. constructed a 500,000-tons-per-year plant at Hoyt Lakes, Minn., that supplies nuggets to SDI's meltshops. This is the world's first commercial-scale ITmk3 facility, which started up in January 2010. This paper reviews the market need for the process, describes the ITmk3 technology, reviews the project background, provides details of the plant construction, and discusses how it applies to SDI's raw material strategy.