The Czech Republic’s largest steelmaker Třinecké Železárny has announced that it will make several investments in its production processes to decarbonize its operations as well as to meet the goals of the EU’s Green Deal.
Accordingly, the decarbonization of steel production requires an investment of about €1 billion in new technologies. The construction of an electric arc furnace (EAF) is the most significant part of the investment, replacing one of the two blast furnaces. Therefore, the company will install a new electric arc furnace (EAF), which will take over half or 1.3 million mt of its current annual production volume. As a result, its energy consumption will increase by about 30 percent from the current 1 TWh. In the meantime, Třinecké Železárny will invest in the construction of several infrastructure projects, under which a new scrap management system and a transformer station will be built. The construction of the EAF is expected to start next year, with its completion scheduled for December 2028.
Meanwhile, Třinecké Železárny will construct a cold iron ore briquetting line, cutting its emissions by 70,000 mt per year. Its costs will reach about CZR 1 billion ($41.24 million), more than 50 percent of which will be provided by the EU’s modernization fund. The construction of the line in question that is unprecedented in the steel industry will begin in the spring of this year, with its operations scheduled for startup in 2027. In addition, a combine-cycle gas turbine will be built, allowing the company to switch to environmentally friendly energy resources from coal. As a result, the company will be able to use waste heat for production.
