Salzgitter AG held a groundbreaking ceremony marking the commencement of work on μDRAL, a demonstration plant for the production of direct reduced iron (DRI) using up to 100% hydrogen as reducing agent.
On the past Monday, May 17, the German steel producer Salzgitter AG organized the groundbreaking ceremony of μDRAL, within the framework of SALCOS – SAlzgitter Low-CO2Steelmaking project. µDRAL is a demonstration plant for the production of Direct Reduced Iron (DRI), designed to operate flexibly with natural gas and hydrogen, and Tenova is the project’s technological partner.
Production will commence in the first half of 2022. The direct reduced iron will initially be used in the blast furnace to reduce the amount of pulverized injection coal, as well as in the electric arc furnace at the Peine plant. The plant has a production capacity of 2500 kg/d and can be operated flexibly with variable proportions of natural gas and hydrogen (0 – 100%).
Building the new direct reduction plant is the next step towards the realization of SALCOS. The shift in steelmaking at Salzgitter AG to hydrogen-based processes is expected to be completed in several stages by 2050 at the latest. By then, the output of CO2 in steel production will have been reduced by up to 95%.
“We are accompanying Salzgitter AG on its path towards the decarbonization of production: an ambitious goal that can be achieved thanks to the innovative ENERGIRON-ZR-direct reduction technology with integrated CO2 absorption system, jointly developed by Tenova and Danieli. We are proud of this pioneering collaboration”
Vice President Iron- & Steelmaking Tenova Germany
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