Europe decarbonisation needs energy investment: Kallanish conference

The production and supply of electricity is the critical point for decarbonisation in Europe, ArcelorMittal technical head for climate change Stephane Tondo said at the Kallanish Europe Steel Markets conference in Amsterdam on Wednesday.

“That’s why we want to invest in the production of direct reduced iron via hydrogen,” he noted. “We are currently operating the only DRI plant in Europe – Hamburg. However, that depends on the prices for natural gas; that’s why securing energy is the most important point and our goal is to invest in that direction. One single DRI plant will need 150,000 tonnes of hydrogen per year.”

Eurofer estimates EU hydrogen demand for steel manufacturing will be 5.5 million tonnes by 2050, a huge figure, he added.

“Thus, we have to transform the CO2 emissions as products to our customers,” he claims. “We also have invested in India and Brazil for renewable production assets. Our goal is to produce the same in Europe and we are aiming to secure as much as possible of scrap.”

“Customers don’t demand green steel, they simply want solutions to reduce the CO2 emissions,” noted Wilfred Geerlings, senior manager for commercial development at Tata Steel Europe. “At our company, we have the Zeremis Carbon Lite, which is a scheme based on direct gas emission reduction projects delivering decarbonisation of the supply chain.”

Carbon Lite can only be used to reduce the part of the product carbon footprint which relates to Tata Steel Nederland’s direct emissions and purchased electricity, he added.

“There is a lot of discussion for the import of hydrogen to Europe, but for steelmaking that doesn’t makes a lot of sense yet, due to the costs for transportation,” observed Rita Monteiro, head of decarbonisation at GFG Alliance. “The point is: don’t ship hydrogen – import green DRI instead from locations where it is available, because it is much more beneficial.”

Svetoslav Abrossimov Bulgaria