According to its own statements, Germany’s largest steel producer Thyssenkrupp has placed an order worth billions on the way to climate neutrality. The plant planned in Duisburg for the low-carbon production of steel is to be built by the plant manufacturer SMS Group, as Thyssenkrupp announced on Friday. The company emphasized that this is one of the world’s largest decarbonization projects. With this plant alone, Thyssenkrupp will save more than 3.5 million tons of carbon dioxide in production every year.
SMS is to build a hydrogen-powered so-called direct reduction plant (DR plant) and two melters. It is the largest DR system in Germany. It is intended to replace a blast furnace. Hydrogen produced in a climate-neutral manner is intended to replace the coal and coke used in blast furnaces in order to extract oxygen from the iron ore. Unlike blast furnaces, DR plants do not produce liquid pig iron, but rather solid sponge iron. In order for this to be processed into steel, it first has to be melted down.
Company relies on subsidies
According to earlier information, everything together will cost more than two billion euros. A large part of this is likely to be attributable to the order that has now been announced. Thyssenkrupp did not want to comment on the exact order volume on Friday. The entire project is to be built primarily with the help of subsidies. It is still subject to approval by the EU Commission under state aid law, as a company spokeswoman said. This is expected in the coming months.
Classic steel production in coal-based blast furnaces produces very large amounts of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide. According to earlier information, Thyssenkrupp is responsible for around 2.5 percent of Germany’s CO2 emissions, and in the Ruhr area even for around a quarter of carbon dioxide emissions. Other steel manufacturers such as Salzgitter also want to build direct reduction plants.
Thyssenkrupp plans to provide further details on the project next Wednesday. North Rhine-Westphalia’s Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst (CDU) and Thyssenkrupp CEO Martina Merz also want to take part in a press event.
