Startschuss für grünes Eisen aus Lingen (abgeschlossen)

Decarbonizing the steel industry is one of the biggest challenges in the fight against climate change. In Germany alone, around 55 million tons of CO2 are emitted annually during steel production. This corresponds to six percent of total German emissions. The world's largest hydrogen direct reduction plant for the production of green iron was opened in Lingen in August 2023 by Lower Saxony's Environment and Energy Minister Meyer. With the commissioning of the world's largest direct reduction plant on the site of RWE's Emsland gas-fired power plant, iron ore can be reduced using green hydrogen alone, making it completely climate-neutral.

The plant in Lingen when it opens in 2023.

"The commissioning of pilot production at the Lingen site is an important milestone for us in bringing the "green iron" product to market maturity and establishing the German technology worldwide," says Dr. Stephan Köhne, Managing Partner of HyIron. "We are currently setting up industrial-scale production in Namibia with the support of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection (BMWK). In the long term, we will be able to produce up to two million tons of iron for the German steel industry there. Here in Lingen, we are already using iron ore from Namibia to optimize the process and the product," adds Köhne.

This innovative process is made possible by the development of a proprietary gas-tight rotary kiln. Here, hydrogen reacts completely with the oxygen in the iron ore and converts it into elemental iron (direct reduced iron (DRI)). Instead of carbon dioxide, this technology produces only water vapor, which can be reused to produce hydrogen. This cycle represents another decisive advantage on the road to sustainable iron production.

The decision to locate the plant in Lingen was made due to the high density of hydrogen projects in the Emsland H2 region in general and at the RWE gas-fired power plant site in Emsland in particular. In future, the green hydrogen for HyIron will be produced in RWE's 14-megawatt pilot electrolysis plant, which is expected to go into operation directly next to the direct reduction plant at the end of 2023. The Lower Saxony Ministry for the Environment, Energy and Climate Protection is funding the construction of the pilot electrolysis plant with eight million euros.

©BENTELER

Green steel from green iron - thanks to hydrogen

In direct reduction, iron ore is reduced with the help of hydrogen. The hydrogen reacts with the oxygen in the iron ore (iron oxide) and transforms it into so-called sponge iron. This process is called "direct reduced iron" (DRI). Instead of carbon dioxide, as in the classic blast furnace, this technology produces water vapour. The sponge iron is then melted down with steel scrap and processed into steel. In future, BENTELER Steel/Tube will use this steel to produce low-CO2 seamless and welded tube solutions. In the first step of the research project, more than one tonne per hour of green iron is to be produced with the help of hydrogen. This green hydrogen is to be produced via LSF electrolysis plants on the power plant site and fed into the DRI plant.

Partners along the value chain

"This DRI technology has great potential for decarbonising the steel industry. The technical know-how of the start-up CO2GRAB, which will build and operate this plant, complements RWE 's expertise along the entire value chain for green hydrogen. LSF will optimise the operation of the electrolysis to the fluctuating production of wind and solar power. BENTELER Steel/Tube will then further process the reduced sponge iron into green steel and climate-neutral quality tubes. With this project we can thus make a significant contribution to climate neutrality," explain the partners in a joint statement

Partner