Germany’s Thyssenkrupp plans to spend more than €2bn ($2bn) on the construction of one of the world’s largest hydrogen-powered direct-reduced iron (DRI) plants at its Duisburg steelmaking complex in the Ruhr region.

The company expects to start awarding contracts for the project in the next few months, with the facility scheduled to start up in 2026. It will have a production capacity of 2.5mn t/yr—larger than initially planned. The investment is still subject to the securing of some public funding, Thyssenkrupp says.

The new DRI plant would replace some of the Duisburg site’s coking coal-fired blast furnace capacity. Thyssenkrupp’s steel operations account for about 2.5pc of Germany’s CO₂ emissions, with the main source being the Duisburg blast furnaces.

“A significant and, above all, rapid contribution to the green transformation where steel is concerned” Merz, Thyssenkrupp

“The release of this enormous investment comes in the midst of the company's transformation, in what is also for all concerned an extremely challenging environment. We are thus underlining our claim to make a significant and, above all, rapid contribution to the green transformation where steel is concerned,” says Thyssenkrupp’s CEO Martina Merz.

The Duisburg project is expected to accelerate the growth of the hydrogen economy in Germany, Thyssenkrupp says. In July, it signed a memorandum of understanding on low-carbon hydrogen and renewable power supply with oil major BP. The two companies agreed to explore long-term supply options for both blue and green hydrogen—as well as wind and solar power under power-purchase agreements.

Thyssenkrupp says the increase in the planned capacity of the DRI plant marks a strengthening of its overall climate targets. "By as soon as 2030, we are planning for around 5mn t/yr of low-CO₂ steel, which will deliver CO₂ savings of well over 30pc,” says CTO Arnd Kofler.

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Author: Stuart Penson