Italy-based Tenova, a Techint Group company specialized in innovative solutions for the metals and mining industries, has announced that it will build a hydrogen-enabled demonstration plant called µDRAL that will produce direct reduced iron (DRI) using up to 100 percent hydrogen as a reducing agent at Germany-based steelmaker Salzgitter Group’s subsidiary Salzgitter Flachstahl GmbH.
The plant is based on Energiron technology and will be operated with hydrogen and natural gas, resulting in lower carbon emissions. This will enable Salzgitter to achieve its long-term carbon reduction targets. The DRI produced by µDRAL will be used in the blast furnace process to save injected coal, and also 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,” Markus Dorndorf, business development director iron & steelmaking at Tenova, said.