Nippon Steel Technology: Tech advances promise 'zero carbon' DRI production

Compared with other feed materials used in steelmaking such as ferrous scrap and pig iron, direct reduced iron (DRI) has greater potential to significantly reduce carbon emissions through technological innovation, according to Nippon Steel Technology (NSTEC), the research and engineering arm of leading Japanese steel producer, Nippon Steel.

"Looking at the steelmaking processes, all methods except for the scrap-based electric-arc-furnace (EAF) route use iron ore as a raw material, meaning that they all involve reducing iron oxide to purer iron resources," Tetsuro Kawai, an official from NSTEC's Global Steel Information Department, pointed out at a webinar held