Midrex

CHARLOTTE,  NC 
United States
http://www.midrex.com

• Booth: 1651

Midrex is the world leader for DRI technology.

Profile

Midrex Technologies Inc. is a world leader and innovator for direct reduction ironmaking technologies. For 50 years, Midrex has provided reliable and flexible DRI technologies that maintain outstanding product quality and production while employing the latest eco-friendly technologies.

MIDREX® Plants are the industry’s most productive and reliable direct reduction plants, with a proven history using the broadest range of energy sources and raw materials while delivering unparalleled operating flexibility and economic value. Midrex continues to develop innovative DRI solutions that improve our new plant designs as well as support our existing plants. 

Midrex engineering and equipment supply are performed to ISO 9001 standards. The company's headquarters and technical center are located in Charlotte, N.C., USA, with offices in the U.K., UAE, China and India.

 Press Releases

• Midrex Names K.C. Woody President & COO (Apr 19, 2023)
  

  Charlotte, North Carolina, USA (March 31, 2023) – Midrex Technologies, Inc. (Midrex) has announced that Stephen Montague, current President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) will retire in April 2024. K.C. Woody will be promoted to president effective immediately and maintain his current role as chief operating officer (COO). Stephen Montague will remain as CEO until his retirement and then continue to serve on the Board of Directors.

  In making the announcement, Montague said, “After more than 35 years at Midrex, and at this stage of my career, I want to spend more time with my family and in ministry, something that was very difficult in my current position. Working the last 13 years with KC has made this decision a lot easier,” Montague observed. “I am pleased to remain on the Board of Directors, and I am confident Midrex will continue to be successful under KC’s leadership.”

  “I am incredibly thankful and humbled by the trust being placed in me by Kobe Steel and my fellow teammates at Midrex,” Woody said. “Midrex is a special place and Stephen is an incredible leader and friend. I know how much his family means to him and I am excited for him as he starts this next chapter of his life.

  “While we have another year before he retires, I am really excited that he has agreed to continue working with the team as a member of our board, and I look forward to his continued friendship, support, and advice as Midrex tackles the decarbonization of our industry,” Woody said. “Decarbonization is a unique opportunity, and I am very confident that we have the right team in place to capitalize on this opportunity and grow our company.”

  Woody joined Midrex in 2010 and has served in a variety of commercial roles including the first Managing Director of Midrex India Private Limited and Vice President-Commercial of Midrex Technologies, Inc.. In 2020, he was named Chief Operating Officer (COO), leading all the commercial and operations activities for the company.

  Woody is a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and served on active duty as an officer in the US Army prior to Midrex.

  Midrex Technologies, Inc.

  Midrex is the world leader for direct reduction ironmaking technology and aftermarket solutions for the steel industry. As developer of the MIDREX® Process, Midrex has designed, built, and serviced direct reduced iron (DRI) plants for 50-plus years. MIDREX Plants produce approximately 60% of the world’s DRI and 80% of DRI from shaft furnace processes.

  The MIDREX Process is highly flexible in reductant sources, iron oxide feed, and product discharge options. Plants can be configured to operate on natural gas (MIDREX NG™), natural gas with hydrogen addition (MIDREX Flex™), and 100% hydrogen (MIDREX H2™). Iron oxide pellets and lump ores, regardless of their Fe content, can be transformed into either cold DRI (CDRI), hot DRI (HDRI), or hot briquetted iron (HBI). Plants can be designed for cold and hot discharge at the operator’s discretion, and proven options are available for transporting and charging HDRI into an EAF.

  The company’s headquarters and research and technology development center are located in Charlotte, NC, USA. Midrex Technologies also has offices in the United Kingdom, China, India, and UAE (Dubai).

• thyssenkrupp Steel Selects MIDREX Flex™ for Immediate CO2 Emissions Reduction (Apr 19, 2023)

  CHARLOTTE, NC, USA (March 13, 2023) – Midrex Technologies, Inc. and Paul Wurth will partner to engineer, supply, and construct a 2.5 million tons/year MIDREX Flex™ direct reduction plant for thyssenkrupp Steel Europe AG at its Duisburg, Germany, site. The plant will initially operate on reformed natural gas, which contains 50% or more hydrogen (H₂) at the inlet to the furnace, until sufficient H₂ is available, at which time it will be transitioned to up to 100% H₂ operation. Furthermore, the direct reduction plant will be combined with advanced SMS group melting technology to significantly increase operating efficiency and reduce CO₂ emissions by more than 3.5 million tons per year. Plant start-up is planned for end of 2026.

  MIDREX Flex technology provides the flexibility to operate on different ratios of natural gas (NG) and hydrogen (H₂), up to 100% H₂. It will allow thyssenkrupp to use natural gas, which already provides significant CO₂ savings over the conventional coke oven-blast furnace ironmaking route, until H₂ is available in sufficient quantities, which is expected in 2027.

  The hydrogen-based DRI plant is a major step in thyssenkrupp’s conversion of its integrated steelworks to a climate-neutral production site.

  

  3D model of planned thyssenkrupp Steel Duisburg plant complex – courtesy of thyssenkrupp Steel

  Stephen Montague, President & CEO of Midrex Technologies, Inc., said, “Midrex prides itself in being at the leading edge of technology, and with our SMS Group partners we are demonstrating that leadership in two first-of-their-kind green steel projects. We have decarbonization solutions that can be tailored to each steelmaker’s situation to ensure long-term sustainability while contributing to near-term profitability.”

  Midrex and Paul Wurth are also collaborating on the world’s first greenfield steel mill based on totally green technology for H2 Green Steel in Boden, Sweden. MIDREX H2™ technology will be used to produce 2.1 million tons/year of HDRI and hot briquetted iron (HBI). The MIDREX Plant is expected to begin production in 2025 and ramp up during 2026.

  About Midrex Technologies, Inc.

  Midrex is the world leader for direct reduction ironmaking technology and aftermarket solutions. Midrex has designed, built, and serviced direct reduced iron (DRI) plants for 50-plus years. Plants based on MIDREX® Process technology produce approximately 60% of the world’s DRI and 80% from shaft furnaces.

  The MIDREX Process is highly flexible and plants can be configured to operate on natural gas (MIDREX NG™), natural gas with hydrogen addition (MIDREX Flex™), and 100% hydrogen (MIDREX H2™). Any iron oxide pellets and lump ores can be transformed into either cold DRI (CDRI), hot DRI (HDRI), or hot briquetted iron (HBI). Combination plants can simultaneously discharge CDRI and HDRI, and proven systems are available for transporting and charging HDRI into melting furnace.

  The company’s headquarters and research and technology development center are located in Charlotte, NC, USA. Midrex Technologies also has offices in the United Kingdom, China, India, and UAE (Dubai).

  For more information, please visit www.midrex.com.

  About Paul Wurth & SMS group

  Headquartered in Luxembourg since its creation in 1870, Paul Wurth can look back on 150 years of excellence, during which the firm has developed into an international engineering company and an established technology provider for the global ironmaking industry. As a company of SMS group, Paul Wurth is a leading market player for the design and construction of complete blast furnace and coke oven plants. Direct reduction plants, environmental protection solutions and recycling technologies complete Paul Wurth’s product portfolio.

  SMS group is renowned worldwide for its future-oriented technologies and outstanding service for the metals industry. The company applies its 150 years of experience and its digital know-how to provide the industry continuously with innovative products and processes – even beyond its core business – and generates worldwide sales of more than 2.7 billion euros. SMS supports its customers throughout the lifecycle of their plants, enabling profitable and resource-efficient value creation chains. Paving the way for a carbon-neutral and sustainable metals industry is the company’s stated goal. A global player with German roots, SMS group has about 14,000 employees.

  For more information, please visit www.paulwurth.com and www.sms-group.com.

  Media Contact:

  Lauren Lorraine
  Midrex Technologies, Inc.
  Phone: (704) 378-3308
  Email: llorraine@midrex.com

• Midrex Participates in White House Roundtable (Apr 19, 2023)

  Midrex Participates in White House Roundtable

  Innovation discussion for green iron initiatives

  

  Friday, March 3, Midrex President & CEO Stephen C. Montague joined executives from the industrial private sector, labor leaders, and government officials to explore ways for the United States to take a leading role in expanding the global clean energy economy. The White House Roundtable Discussion focused on how public and private investments, when paired with new programs under the Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, can quicken the pace of industrial decarbonization and increase American competitiveness.

  Montague was asked to address how leveraging federal programs and incentives (tax credits, grants, loans, etc.) can help to decarbonize iron and steel production, which accounts for between 7-9% of global CO2 emissions. He cited how Midrex innovation for green iron is being utilized by two commercial-scale hydrogen-based projects:

  1. H2 Green Steel in Boden, Sweden uses renewable electricity to produce green hydrogen through electrolysis, which will be used in a MIDREX H2™ plant to produce DRI that will be fed into an electric melter along with scrap to make green steel with about 95% less carbon emissions than traditional steelmaking; and
  2. thyssenkrupp Steel in Duisburg, Germany, will replace its traditional integrated steelmaking operation with a DRI-Electric Melter combination that includes a MIDREX Flex™ plant, which can be transitioned to 100% hydrogen as sufficient hydrogen becomes available.

  Montague said favorable government policies toward green electricity, hydrogen production, and carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) provide unique opportunities to create American jobs by building new DR plants to produce green iron for use at home and abroad.

  “There is a race to commercialize new technologies,” Montague said. “Private and public funding, like the Inflation Reduction Act, is essential to support ongoing commercialization of ‘lighthouse’ decarbonization projects such as those Midrex is building abroad. We need to do the same at home because the USA is an ideal location for large-scale mega-hubs to produce green iron perhaps in cooperation with EU steelmakers facing with much higher energy costs”.