(Duisburg) – The EU Commission has approved the “tkH2Steel” project under state aid law. This enables the federal government to formally release funding totaling two billion euros for Thyssenkrupp Steel Europe AG. The money comes from the federal government (70 percent) and the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The group's own investments amount to almost a billion euros.
Visualization of Thyssenkrupp's first direct reduction plant at the Duisburg site (highlighted in white). © Thyssenkrupp Steel Europe AG
The project was selected as part of “IPCEI Hydrogen” (Important Projects of Common European Interest – H2). According to the Federal Ministry of Economics, the national funding decision will be “issued promptly”. As reported, Thyssenkrupp Steel wants to decarbonize steel production in Duisburg and convert the operation of its blast furnaces from coal to hydrogen. This happens through “direct reduction” of iron. In this case, around 143.000 million tons of pig iron are produced per year using 2,3 tons of hydrogen and 3,5 million tons of CO2 are saved. The new systems are scheduled to go into operation in 2026 and are scheduled to be gradually converted to green hydrogen from 2028.
Planning is already in full swing
After granting the early start of measures at the beginning of the year, Thyssenkrupp Steel commissioned the SMS Group from Düsseldorf with the engineering, delivery and construction of the direct reduction plant, as well as the two melters and the associated auxiliary units at the Duisburg site. The contract value is 1,8 billion euros.
In March 2022, the power producer STEAG GmbH and Thyssenkrupp Steel had one as part of the joint “HydrOxy Walsum” project Vereinbarung signed, according to which STEAG supplies the steel manufacturer with hydrogen and oxygen from the neighboring Duisburg-Walsum location.
In December 2022, the industrial gas company Air Liquide completed a previously commissioned approximately four kilometer long pipeline, which connects the Duisburg steelworks site with Air Liquide's hydrogen network in the Ruhr area.
Salzgitter AG: One billion euros
This is the second major funding for the decarbonization of a steel site in Germany as part of the IPCEI Hydrogen. The EU Commission had already given a commitment to Salzgitter AG in Lower Saxony at the end of May 2023. At the time, Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck presented the funding decision worth one billion euros. Germany's second largest steel group in terms of sales works in its SALCOS The aforementioned projects are also working on producing crude steel in the future using green hydrogen and direct reduction.
Another project by Stahl-Holding-Saar in Saarland and one by ArcelorMittal at the Bremen (“HyBit”) and Eisenhüttenstadt locations are still in the EU state aid approval process.
H2 Green Steel AB recently received funding from the EU, albeit from its innovation fund, to build an industrial-scale green steelworks in northern Sweden using hydrogen-based direct reduction technology.
German steel manufacturers ranked eighth worldwide
In 2022, 36,8 million tons of crude steel were produced in Germany, around eight percent less than in the previous year. According to Statista GmbH, the Federal Republic is in eighth place. Worldwide it was 1,8 billion tonnes. The table is led by China with over a billion tonnes. India and Japan follow far behind with 125 and 89 million tons.
Steel causes eight to eleven percent of global CO2 emissions. According to its own statements, Thyssenkrupp Steel itself causes around 2,5 percent of CO2 emissions in Germany, mainly at the Duisburg location. The main emitters are the coal-fired blast furnaces there. The company aims to produce climate-neutrally by 2045.
Photos
Coal-powered blast furnaces in Duisburg: The EU Commission has approved two billion euros for the decarbonization of Thyssenkrupp Steel. © Thyssenkrupp Steel Europa AG
