Indian steelmaker Tata Steel has announced that the European Union has agreed to contribute €7.4 million towards testing a groundbreaking new iron production process being developed at Tata Steel’s steelworks in the Netherlands.
According to the statement, the six-month test process of the Hlsarna plant in 2016 will establish whether the new technology can produce molten iron in a stable way, while the EU’s support covers almost a third of the €25 million test costs next year. The technology is expected to enable further resource efficiency improvements in steelmaking by using the world’s limited resources in a more sustainable way while minimizing the impacts on the environment and to lead to 20 percent lower CO2 emissions.
“We welcome the European Union's support for this promising and potentially groundbreaking project. The development of this technology still has a long way to go, so support from the EU is vital. Hlsarna could play a future role in the creation of a more sustainable low-carbon European economy. If next year's tests are successful, the following stage would be developing, constructing and testing an industrial-scale plant at a cost of €300 million,” stated Karl Koehler, chief executive of Tata Steel's European operations.