Georgsmarienhütte, Volkswagen step up reuse of rejected steel

Georgsmarienhütte and nearby carmaking plant Volkswagen Osnabrück will be strengthening their cooperation in the recycling of steel, Kallanish hears from the German long products maker.

Volkswagen has a pressing plant in Osnabrück, where strip steel is processed into body components for on-site production at other group locations. For some years, unused metal from the manufacturing process has been delivered to the mill in Georgsmarienhütte, around 10km away. It is then melted in an electric arc furnace and recycled into a new high-quality starting material for Volkswagen AG’s transmission production in Baunatal, Hessen.

Alexander Becker, chief executive of Georgmarienhütte parent company GMH Group, has now announced a further strengthening of this long-standing partnership with the aim of completely reusing raw materials. Shipment volumes of recyclable metal will remain at a high level in future, significantly reducing the CO2 footprint of both companies in the process.

Compared with the same tonnage of steel produced in a conventional blast furnace, the recycling of this steel scrap at Georgmarienhütte’s EAF saves 8,000 tonnes/year of CO2, GMH states.

Christian Koehl Germany