ecoMetals TV: Interview with Dr. Thomas Hansmann, CTO SMS group

First of all, thank you for the opportunity, and we can discuss. As you mentioned, life is a little bit more complicated and there is not one way to decarbonize the steel industry. Luckily, for a plant builder, there are several technical ways possible, which have their own importance, they have their own area of applicability, and so it's something a little bit more complex. But the positive thing is that things are moving. The steel industry has decided to decarbonize and a lot of initiatives have been started and a lot of projects are already in the status of execution. So we are moving, and I think it's the most radical cut in the steel industry we have ever seen — biggest shift ever, I would say, in the industrialization era.

Yes, we have. We have this in Sweden — HYBRIT Green Steel — and there you have the possibility to design a steel plant from scratch according to what is the best way to produce green steel. You start with hydrogen, you have the generation of green hydrogen because you have green electricity available, and then you adapt the flowsheet with the classic way — direct reduction, electric arc furnace, and downstream with the steel production. I think that's the dream for an engineer, to design such a plant. It's a dream. And it happens in Europe, and unfortunately, the conditions that are available here in Sweden are not available in Germany. So it's something that is very interesting and it will be a blueprint for other steel plants to come. But maybe not so many in Europe, because we don't find the conditions that have to be fulfilled in order to produce steel green but also economically interesting. We believe it's more important to have intermediate solutions for the steel industry to decarbonize. This is why we are working heavily on technologies that will allow to continue to operate a blast furnace, for instance, but to lower CO2 emissions below 50, 60, if possible 70 percent. Because I think we cannot wait. We want to contribute to the decarbonization of the steel industry, so we should also accept that there are intermediate steps in order to move forward. This is why we think there are several ways where we have to move.

I think there are, of course, the potential going from the liquid iron to the production of product heat — reaching that upstream, the potential is the biggest and the need to do something is the most important one, that's clear. In the downstream, luckily, if you have a different flowsheet, you have electric arc furnace for the production of long products, then you are already one step ahead because you don't have the utilization of fossil fuels to the extent that you have in the upstream area. This is why we are trying to offer solutions in order to find ways either to electrify reheating furnaces and something like that, pointing at renewable energy, or if necessary, also the utilization of hydrogen in combustion processes. Even if I think that's not the best way to use hydrogen — just to burn it — but if necessary, we can do it and we can also offer solutions. And on top, I think one of the most important features we have to think about is the energy optimization, because still today, I believe there's a huge potential in the organization of a steel plant in order to minimize energy consumption. And energy consumption minimization means less CO2 emissions. This is the digital world we are also offering solutions for — complete steel plants, more or less complex, in order to optimize that.

Thank you.