Today, Thyssenkrupp will provide additional information regarding its massive, multi-billion-euro initiative to manufacture low-CO2 steel in Duisburg.
The biggest steel manufacturer in Germany intends to construct a so-called direct reduction (DR) plant there in the upcoming years that can also burn hydrogen. Beginning in 2026, the plant will replace a blast furnace. Hendrik Wüst, the minister-president of North Rhine-Westphalia, and Martina Merz, the chairman of the executive board of ThyssenKrupp, also intend to attend a press conference.
The SMS Group, a producer of plants, will construct the facility in Duisburg that is envisioned for the manufacturing of steel with low carbon content. The DR plant and two melters are to be built by SMS. The total renovation will cost more than two billion euros, according to early estimates. It will be the biggest DR facility in Germany, claims ThyssenKrupp.
At the plant, the traditional blast furnaces that use coal and coke to extract oxygen from the iron ore can be replaced with climate-neutral hydrogen. DR plants create solid sponge iron rather than liquid pig iron, in contrast to blast furnaces. This must first be melted down before it can be converted into steel. With the plant, the business hopes to take the lead in the rapidly developing green steel sectors.
Carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, is produced in extremely large quantities during conventional steel manufacture in blast furnaces powered by coal. Thyssenkrupp is estimated to be responsible for about 2.5% of Germany’s CO2 emissions, and the German steel sector as a whole for about 7%.
Direct reduction plants are also something that other steelmakers like Salzgitter and ArcelorMittal aspire to construct in Germany. The globe has not yet adopted DR technology widely. Among others, a facility with an annual capacity of 2 million tons is functioning in the USA. It is anticipated that the Duisburg factory will be able to produce 2.5 million tons of low-CO2 steel annually. Moreover, a project to use this technology to construct a new steel mill in northern Sweden is also receiving attention.
