Tenova received the order for a demonstration DRI plant using up to 100% hydrogen as reducing agent from Salzgitter Flachstahl GmbH.

Salzgitter Flachstahl GmbH, the largest steel subsidiary in the Salzgitter Group, has commissioned Tenova for the construction of µDRAL, a demonstration plant for the production of Direct Reduced Iron (DRI), using up to 100% hydrogen as reducing agent. The plant is based on the ENERGIRON® technology and will be installed on the premises of the Salzgitter steel mill at Salzgitter, Germany.

The µDRAL will have a nominal production capacity of 100 kg/h and will be operated with hydrogen and natural gas showing the flexibility of the technology in terms of fluctuating availabilities of reducing agents, including 100% hydrogen. The DRI produced by µDRAL will be both used in the blast furnace process to save injected coal and in the electric arc furnace of the Peine plant.

“The new direct reduction plant is the next step toward realizing the SALCOS® approach and we are proud to be the partner of Salzgitter’s transformation process to green steelmaking”, affirmed Markus Dorndorf, Business Development Director Iron & Steelmaking at Tenova LOI Thermprocess.

The ENERGIRON® process, jointly developed by Tenova and Danieli, represents the base for the plant design and is the most feasible high-intensity H2 DR system available, already designed for extremely low CO2 emissions while processing virgin metallic units. This enables Salzgitter to achieve the long-term CO2 reduction targets, defined with SALCOS® approach.

The ENERGIRON® solution has been also recently selected by HBIS Group for the first ever gas-based DR plant in China and by OMK in Russia for the production of the highest quality of steel grades. The world’s steel industry is looking for smart innovative technologies to reduce its carbon footprint, and ENERGIRON® is the most reliable and proven technology to lead this sustainable and green path towards the use of hydrogen as a replacement for coal in the integrated steelmaking process.