Corex Process

The Corex Process is a smelting reduction process created by Primetals Technologies as a more environmentally friendly alternative to the blast furnace.^[1] Presently, the majority of steel production is through the blast furnace which has to rely on coking coal^[2] and requires a sinter plant in order to prepare the iron ore for reduction.^[3] Unlike the blast furnace, smelting reduction processes are typical smaller and use coal and oxygen directly to reduce iron ore into a usable product.

Smelting reduction processes come in two basic varieties, two-stage or single-stage. In a single-stage system the iron ore is both reduced and melted in the same container. In a two-stage process, like Corex, the ore is reduced in one shaft and melted and purified in another.^[4] Plants using the Corex process have been put use in areas such as South Africa, India, and China.^[5] First COREX process was installed in 1988 at South Africa.