The move comes as the company looks to clean up its steel production operations. It anticipates the plant will boast a production capacity of 2.5 million tonnes of direct reduced iron, which could provide its customers with two million tonnes of low-carbon steel each year.
thyssenkrupp has said, existing coal-based blast furnaces will be replaced by hydrogen-powered direct reduction plants. Iron produced at the site will have been directly reduced by hydrogen, then liquified in downstream melting units to produce high-quality iron.
It is anticipated that the integration of hydrogen at the plant will reduce carbon dioxide emissions from the site by 20%.
Bernhard Osburg, Chairman of the Executive Board of thyssenkrupp Steel Europe, said, “With today’s decisions, we are continuing to set the pace on our path to climate-friendly steel production. The first direct reduction plant with downstream melters will supply our customers with over two million metric tonnes of low-carbon premium steel per year in the foreseeable future, significantly more than previously planned.
“We are thus reaffirming our goal of playing a leading role in the competition for the green steel markets of the future and supporting our customers in achieving their decarbonisation targets. In addition, we are fulfilling our social responsibility and will already be reducing the carbon emissions of our production by just under 20% in the first step. That is already five percent of the Ruhr region’s greenhouse gas emissions. Our tkH2Steel® transformation project is the key to this.”
In March 2022, the company revealed it had partnered with STEAG to integrate a water electrolysis plant of up to 520MW to generate hydrogen for steel manufacturing at the Duisberg site.
In August (2022), thyssenkrupp announced former Innovation Commissioner for Green Hydrogen of the German Government, Dr. Stefan Kaufmann would advise the company on all hydrogen activities and projects.
Read more: Former German Commissioner to advise thyssenkrupp on green hydrogen
Arnd Köfler, Chief Technology Officer at thyssenkrupp, said, “By as soon as 2030, we are planning for around five million metric tons of low-carbon steel, which will deliver carbon dioxide savings of well over 30 percent. The now imminent construction of one of the largest hydrogen-powered direct reduction plants planned to date will also generate innovation and employment in the Ruhr region and beyond.
“The intelligent combination with newly developed melting units can serve as a model for many other decarbonisation projects in the steel industry worldwide. In order to continue our transformation without delay, we are planning to award the contract in the fall, and we are already making appropriate preparations.”
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