Thyssenkrupp Steel has received approval to start construction early of the first direct reduction plant at its Duisburg site, the steelmaker tells Kallanish.
Tk Steel submitted the application for approval at the Düsseldorf district government as the responsible authority in October 2023. The approval notice for the early start of construction is an important milestone in the approval process in accordance with the Federal Immission Control Act, the company notes. “We have thus cleared another important hurdle in the realisation of the first direct reduction plant,” says Arnd Köfler, tk Steel’s chief technology officer.
Over the next few months, a veritable factory town will be built on the site, with up to 2,000 people working there. The main part of the plant will be around 140 metres high and flanked by around 60 buildings.
By awarding the contract to build a DR plant with two melters to SMS group in spring 2023, tk Steel placed the largest single order in its history, it notes. Last summer, it received a grant from the federal and state governments totalling around €2 billion ($2.2billion) for its tkH2Steel project. Tk Steel’s own investment amounts to just under €1 billion.
Christian Koehl Germany
