ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT
EUROPE
The Green Deal sets ambitious targets for the steel industry Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, compared her recently presented climate plan in Brussels with the US programme for the moon landing in the 1960s. By 2050, no new greenhouse gases from Europe should be emitted into the atmosphere. Industry is trying to meet the requirements, but at the same time is sceptical about the possibility of achieving success.
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drogen can then be stored and converted back into electricity or heat at a later stage. Steelmakers such as ArcelorMittal, thyssenkrupp Steel Europe and Salzgitter are already experimenting with this technology to improve their carbon footprint. The aim is to create an alternative to the current conventional process for steel production, which uses the integrated blast furnace (BF). Using a BF, the carbon-containing fuel coke (C) is used to dissolve the oxygen. This oxygen combines in the blast furnace to
form carbon dioxide (CO2), which subsequently ends up in the environment.
Competitiveness of the EU steel industry must be maintained Generally speaking, the European steel industry supports the objectives of the Commission, but reminds the political decision-makers that “investments and the need for regulation will be massive,” emphasises Axel Eggert, Director General of Eurofer. “The steel industry is al-
March 2020 / MPT International
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he Commission has put on its agenda that the emissions of the association of states must be 50 to 55 per cent below the 1990 level by the interim target of 2030. As part of this, the EU requires the steel sector to significantly reduce its process emissions by switching to hydrogen, which is produced exclusively with renewable energy (Power-To-X). For this purpose, water (H2O) is energised in an electrolyser, so hydrogen (H) and oxygen (O) are separated from each other. The hy-
