Direct Reduced Iron (Dri)
WHAT Processed iron ore that is iron rich enough to be used as a scrap substitute in electric furnace steelmaking. WHY As mini mills expand their product abilities to sheet steel, they require much higher grades of scrap to approach integrated mill quality. Enabling the mini mills to use iron ore without the blast furnace, DRI can serve as a low residual raw material and alleviate the mini mills' dependence on cleaner, higher priced scrap. HOW The impurities in the crushed iron ore are driven off through the use of massive amounts of natural gas. While the result is 97% pure iron (compared with blast furnace hot metal, which, because it is saturated with carbon, is only 93% iron), DRI is only economically feasible in regions where natural gas is attractively priced.
