Post a Comment Print Share on Facebook

ArcelorMittal can start pilot project for "green steel" in Hamburg

Since the early 1970s, ArcelorMittal's Hamburg steelworks has been one of very few in the world to use natural gas instead of coking coal in steel production.

- 154 reads.

ArcelorMittal can start pilot project for "green steel" in Hamburg

Since the early 1970s, ArcelorMittal's Hamburg steelworks has been one of very few in the world to use natural gas instead of coking coal in steel production. During steel production in Hamburg, with the help of the so-called "direct reduction", only about 800 kilograms of carbon dioxide per tonne of steel are produced - 1800 kilograms of carbon dioxide per tonne of steel, on the other hand, are caused by the European blast furnaces that produce "sponge iron" from iron ore using coking coal.

Now ArcelorMittal's Hamburg plant is once again becoming a global pioneer in its industry. The European Commission has approved funding for the production of near zero-emission steel with green hydrogen at a demonstration plant at ArcelorMittal in Hamburg. The federal government is funding the project with 55 million euros. The innovation consists in letting the oxygen in the iron ore react with hydrogen, "reducing" the oxygen in this way. When combined with hydrogen, a new product is created – water. If, on the other hand, natural gas or coking coal is used for direct reduction, carbon dioxide is produced.

"The decarbonization of steel production is one of the most important cornerstones for achieving the climate goals in Europe," said Reiner Blaschek, CEO of ArcelorMittal Germany. “The approval of the European Commission gives us the opportunity to plan the next steps in Germany, which we will now carefully examine. This is an essential prerequisite for advancing the conversion of our plants in Germany and demonstrating the use of 100 percent hydrogen.”

ArcelorMittal – like many other steel mills around the world – will need large quantities of hydrogen in the future, which is obtained with the help of renewable energies in electrolysis. The conversion of the entire production at the Hamburg site is intended to save 700,000 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) per year in the future. "The new technologies enable us to replace fossil fuels with renewable energies," said Uwe Braun, Managing Director of ArcelorMittal Hamburg. In order to convert production to climate-neutral steel production, the development of a hydrogen infrastructure is now just as necessary as the expansion of regenerative energy production at competitive prices. In the Port of Hamburg, large capacities for hydrogen electrolysis are to be built up in the coming years, for example at the site of the decommissioned Moorburg coal-fired power plant. However, the steel company will have to import most of the “green” hydrogen.

Hamburg's Environment and Energy Senator Jens Kerstan (Greens) said: "As the environmental authority, we have been closely involved in the switch to low-CO2 and, in the future, climate-neutral steel production at ArcelorMittal. Because we have to go hand in hand with the industry to advance and implement innovative projects. With the approval of the federal funds by the EU, the production of green steel in Hamburg is within reach.”

Economics Senator Melanie Leonhard (SPD) was also pleased with the release of the funding: "It is important to the Senate to offer industry - including energy-intensive industry - reliable framework conditions in Hamburg. Reliable energy supply is a priority for companies,” she said. “Energy, for example from wind, is available in large quantities here in the north. Hydrogen makes this energy storable and transportable.” The ArcelorMittal project is “significant far beyond Hamburg: It shows that we are pursuing our climate goals with technological progress without strangling economic value creation and jobs in the industrial sector.”

Avatar
Your Name
Post a Comment
Characters Left:
Your comment has been forwarded to the administrator for approval.×
Warning! Will constitute a criminal offense, illegal, threatening, offensive, insulting and swearing, derogatory, defamatory, vulgar, pornographic, indecent, personality rights, damaging or similar nature in the nature of all kinds of financial content, legal, criminal and administrative responsibility for the content of the sender member / members are belong.