An exciting new way to run a steel blast furnace was successfully demonstrated in Germany. Thyssenkrupp one of the world’s largest steel producers has demonstrated it’s possible to heat a steel blast furnace using hydrogen. This is big news for renewable hydrogen and could eliminate the need for using dirty, environmentally harmful coal.
Thyssenkrupp steel hopes this will be the first step for the steel industry to push forward towards zero-emissions steel production. Executive board member Dr. Klaus Keysberg said: “Steel production will play an important role in reaching our climate targets because the potential for reducing emissions is huge. We’ve set ourselves a clear goal with our climate strategy.”
The company has plans to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 30% by 2030 and down to zero-emissions by 2050. The company emitted almost 3% of Germany’s total emissions in the 2017-2018 fiscal year which equated to around 24 million tons of CO2. At the current stage if coal is replaced by hydrogen it could cut CO2 emissions by up to 20%.
Dr. Arnd Köfler, Thyssenkrupp’s chief technical officer said:
We want to reduce emissions with hydrogen while continuing to produce pig iron of the same quality. At the same time, we are breaking new ground with the tests on blast furnace 9, so it is now a question of continuously analyzing and evaluating the furnace’s operation. The results will help us to widen the use of hydrogen to all 28 tuyeres.The company has plans to build ‘large-scale direct reduction plants’, following the conversions of the blast furnaces. They hope to accomplish this by the mid-2020s and will then be operating with hydrogen-containing gases. Part of this plan includes new steel furnaces that will use hydrogen to produce ‘sponge-iron‘ which will then be converted into crude steel using electric-arc furnaces.
This is an important step for the future of the planet. Hopefully, they can reach their goal of being completely emissions-free ahead of the scheduled 2050.
