In the picture, from the left: Alexander Stein, Member of the Board of Directors Finances and Procurement, Salzgitter Flachstahl GmbH; Claude M. Pirson, Member of the Supervisory Board DSD Steel Group GmbH; Ulrich Grethe, Chairman of the Board of Directors, Salzgitter Flachstahl GmbH; Giacomo Mareschi, Chief Executive Officer, Danieli and Roberto Pancaldi, Chief Executive Officer, Tenova
Energiron® direct reduction plant contracted by Salzgitter AG represents a SALCOS® milestone reached.
A consortium comprising Tenova, Danieli and DSD Steel Group has been contracted by Salzgitter AG to build a direct reduction plant (DRP) on the site of Salzgitter Flachstahl GmbH. With a production capacity of more than 2 million tons of DRI per year, the unit is the largest sub-plant in the first stage of the SALCOS® - Salzgitter Low CO2 Steelmaking transformation program, which is aimed to achieve virtually CO2-free steel production by 2033.
SALCOS® program is already in the midst of implementation and will mark a significant step forward with the new DRP based on the cutting-edge Energiron ZR® Direct Reduction technology, jointly developed by Tenova and Danieli, which can be operated flexibly in any mixing ratio with hydrogen and natural gas. Prior to this, an electric arc furnace had been ordered as another key low-CO2 steel producing unit. In addition, the financing of stage 1 had been guaranteed in part by grants from the Federal Republic of Germany and the State of Lower Saxony totaling close to € 1 billion, as well as a sizeable amount of Salzgitter AG's own funds totaling more than € 1 billion.
The plant will provide half of the total DRI capacity planned until 2033. It will also be linked to the nearby electric arc furnace via the well-proven Hytemp® pneumatic transport system, allowing reduced iron pellets from a considerable distance to be fed into the furnace in a hot state. This guarantees that the total process is extremely energy efficient.
Tenova CEO
“The award of this contract today is the result of a yearslong collaboration with Salzgitter on the development of the SALCOS® project, and we could not be more honored to be the consortium leader. From the beginning, Salzgitter identified Energiron ZR® as the only technology that was developed and extensively tested to use any proportion of reducing gas mixture without plant modifications, thus enabling a seamless transition from natural gas to hydrogen. Furthermore, the use of the Hytemp® system will strongly reduce the energy consumption at the EAF, greatly contributing to a further reduction of CO2 emissions”.
Danieli Group CEO
"Danieli is proud to be beside Salzgitter Flachstahl in this outstanding project that will be a lighthouse for the steel industry decarbonation. The use of the Energiron® technology, that we jointly developed with Tenova, is a definitive step towards a Green Steel era, with the possibility to use different amounts of hydrogen, up to 100%, as an alternative reducing agent in order to lower more and more the carbon footprint without changing the standard and mature plant configuration. We are fully committed as a technological partner of Salzgitter to make this a great success."
Chairman of the Executive Board of Salzgitter AG
"We are underpinning our motto 'A new way of thinking for a new industry' today with a clear signal to the market. As early as 2026, we will be in a position to produce significant quantities of green steel and make it available to our customers. I am pleased and also a little proud that we, as a pioneer with fully up-front financing for the first stage of our transformation program, have today awarded this contract to our strong partners. We have thus taken a decisive step forward on the way to a scheduled start of production of the SALCOS® route in 2026."
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