Thyssenkrupp Steel launches tender for up to 151,000 tonnes of annual clean hydrogen supply in Germany
Steelmaker is seeking ten-year contracts for green or blue H2 to reduce emissions at country's largest steel mill
Thyssenkrupp Steel Europe has launched a tender seeking up to 151,000 tonnes of green or blue hydrogen supply for the direct-iron reduction facilities it is building at its Duisburg plant, Germany’s largest steel mill.
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On its website, the company explains: “The planned [40km] hydrogen pipeline between Dorsten and the Duisburg district of Hamborn [where the steel mill is based] will provide a secure connection to a supraregional hydrogen network.”
“As Europe's largest integrated steel mill, we will help drive the rapid and ambitious hydrogen ramp-up in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, and neighboring European countries and accelerate the development of a corresponding hydrogen infrastructure — a benefit not least for the labor market, as the hydrogen value chain is likely to create a six-digit number of additional jobs in the future.”
Until 2028, the DRI facility will run wholly on natural gas, which is expected to be part of the fuel mix at the project until 2037.
Thyssenkrupp is now seeking expressions of interest, which will be followed by a request for proposals, then a request for quotation later this year.
The company argues on its website that the demand for renewable energy and green hydrogen from the steel industry is so high “that the installed capacity of wind power, solar energy and electrolysis seems modest in comparison”.
“Just to operate Thyssenkrupp Steel's first direct reduction plant exclusively with green hydrogen would require green electricity from 500 wind turbines,” it says, without specifying the size of said turbines.
Why use hydrogen to decarbonise steel?
Hydrogen is currently the only viable route to fully decarbonising the steel sector, which accounts for 7-11% of global carbon emissions at present.
Today, most steel is made using a carbon-intensive blast furnace-basic oxygen furnace (BF-BOF) method, which uses coal to both heat and extract iron from iron-oxide ore, before other substances are introduced to make steel.
Hydrogen can be used instead of coal to both heat and remove oxygen from the ore in a process known as direct-reduced iron (DRI). DRI plants have been in commercial use for some time, using natural gas as the reducing agent, but hydrogen DRI plants are now being commercialised.
Hydrogen-DRI is currently the only available method of fully decarbonising iron production. When paired with an electric arc furnace (EAF) to help turn that iron into steel, emissions could theoretically be reduced to zero.
However, as most plants today still use BF-BOF, it will require a massive amount of capital investment to realise a switchover to hydrogen-DRI and EAF, resulting in slightly more expensive green steel.