ArcelorMittal establishes climate-neutral steel R&D unit in Germany

ArcelorMittal has established a German research and development (R&D) unit for the production of climate-neutral steel.

The department is headquartered in Hamburg, where a newly created team will work closely with ArcelorMittal’s global research and development department and the four German sites in Bremen, Duisburg, Eisenhüttenstadt and Hamburg.

Research into the use of hydrogen and other decarbonisation technologies in association with direct reduced iron making is high on the agenda of the new centre, Kallanish understands. The Hamburg mill is Europe’s only DRI plant, so far using natural gas, which is to be replaced by hydrogen in the future.

The first low-emission steel is expected to be produced at the sites in Hamburg, Duisburg, Bremen and Eisenhüttenstadt as early as 2025. Larger joint projects to build a hydrogen infrastructure are already being planned.

“We are taking another step on the way to the decarbonisation of our steel production,” says Reiner Blaschek, chief executive of ArcelorMittal Germany. “The new department is working vigorously on the diverse issues, which are significantly more complex than simply replacing natural gas with hydrogen.”

The R&D team will also work on further use of by-products and scrap-technologies as well as how steel production facilities need to be adapted to use more renewable energy. The head of the new centre is Frank Schaub, a chemical engineer with a doctorate from Bremen, who is currently putting together a team of younger and experienced colleagues from various technical fields.

Christian Koehl Germany