ArcelorMittal Poland to build hydrogen plant to power steel sheet galvanizing lines

ArcelorMittal Poland has contracted Linde Gaz Polska to build a hydrogen production plant at its Krakow branch to supply process gas to two galvanizing lines, the steel company said.

The PLN 100 million ($24 million) investment has already started with design work underway. The plant will be producing hydrogen from natural gas with the startup planned for the end of 2026.

“The project with Linde is [meant] to ensure a reliable supply of hydrogen for our sheet galvanizing operations,” the director of the Krakow branch, Lukasz Skorupa, said in the company’s statement.

Separately, ArcelorMittal Poland is building several hydrogen furnaces that will make it possible to eliminate ammonia in the annealing plant boosting its safety, Skorupa said.

ArcelorMittal Poland has not used coal as a fuel since 2018, and it terminated coke production in July 2024. Its installations — the hot rolling mill and the cold rolling mill, the galvanizing and color-coating lines — now operate exclusively on natural gas, according to Skorupa.

“We are constantly improving the quality of our products, expanding their range, and at the same time gradually reducing our impact on the environment,” ArcelorMittal Poland CEO Wojciech Koszuta said.

“In our processes, we replace technologies with those that have a lower impact on the environment. Hence the elimination of ammonia and the transition to hydrogen.”