EAF mills adding this capability would need to install equipment such as a DRI plant coupled with a melting furnace or a furnace that smelts iron ore. This adds capital and operating costs, but Steel Dynamics and other companies believe the benefits outweigh the costs. Paul Wurth designed the EAF, which started up in March 1996.
Operators charge the molten iron into the side of the furnace.
The EAF also has a Fuchs finger shaft to preheat scrap. The Iron Dynamics plant will produce about 450,000 tons of liquid iron a year. Electricity consumption will fall from about 350 to 200 kWh. Steelmakers with this type of plant have a whole new set of economics to consider. As the metallization level of DRI increases, the DRI plant's productivity decreases because of the additional reduction time required.