ArcelorMittal will proceed with a project to build a new electric arc furnace at it Gijon site in northern Spain replace one of its two blast furnaces, the company said July 27.
“The pre-FEED (front end engineering and design) part of the project has been completed and the FEED phase will begin,” ArcelorMittal de Espana said in a statement.
The new electric arc furnace (EAF), with 1.1 million mt capacity, is due to come online in the second half of 2025 and will produce increased volume of steel coil and steel rods with reduced carbon emissions.
The project will use hydrogen generated from renewables to decarbonize both the steel production and downstream industries.
This will make the plant competitive in high added value products with stricter environmental criteria for use in the public sector, it said. Spain’s government in April approved funding from Spain’s Recovery and Resilience funds of Eur450 million ($500 million) for ArcelorMittal’s “green steel” project at Gijon.
Overall investment is slated at around Eur1 billion ($1.1 billion) which covers a 2.3 million mt/year hydrogen-fed DRI unit and the hybrid EAF, which will reduce the mill’s CO2 emissions in Spain by 50% (4.8 million mt).
Hot-rolled coil CIF Antwerp was assessed by Platts for S&P Global Commodity Insights at a midpoint $664.96/mt July 27, down 4% from one month prior.
At the start of July, ArcelorMittal restarted its halted furnace at Gijon that had been closed due to a fire in March.
In July 2022, ArcelorMittal announced plans to also convert its 2 million mt/year Sestao, Spain plant to produce zero carbon emissions throughout the productive process, with a target date of 2025.
Gijon would be used to feed Sestao while there is also scope for a new electric furnace at nearby Aviles, which currently has capacity for 4.2 million mt/year of finished steel.
Author: Gianluca Baratti
