thyssenkrupp Steel unveils climate-friendlier production process

In its efforts to slash CO2 emissions in steel production, thyssenkrupp Steel has announced what it describes as a milestone on its path to climate-neutral steel – its new bluemint Steel brand, produced with less coal consumption at the blast furnace. A new production process has allowed the company to reduce the carbon emission intensity per tonne of steel by 70 percent, the company said. The use of already reduced iron (HBI) allows for less coal consumption at the blast furnace. The process reduces emission intensity per tonne by 1.5 tonnes to 0.6 tonnes of CO2 per tonne. German certification company TÜV Süd, meanwhile, has approved a second, separate approach towards CO2-reduced steel production at thyssenkrupp that uses scrap in the blast furnace process. The process similarly results in a reduction of CO2 emissions due to reduced coal consumption, since correspondingly less coal is needed for melting scrap.

Germany’s energy-intensive steel industry has been one of the major sticking points in the country’s efforts to transition to cleaner power sources. The steel industry needs financial support of 13 to 35 billion euros to make the shift to climate-friendly steel production, according to a recent analysis conducted by think tank Agora Energiewende.