Tata Steel Netherlands has partnered with Energiron Alliance for the design of the future-ready Energiron direct reduction plants in IJmuiden.

Tata Steel Europe, with a predominant presence in the UK and the Netherlands, has selected Danieli as the technological partner for the Heracless (Hydrogen-Era-Carbon-Less) project for the Netherlands subsidiary. The project is aimed at transitioning the integrated steel mill in IJmuiden from the current BF-technology to green hydrogen-based steel production, to pursue a sustainable future.

As stated in an official press release by Danieli, Tata Steel Netherlands has awarded Energiron Alliance (Tenova+Danieli) with a contract to perform the design of the future Energiron direct reduction plants in IJmuiden. All the Energiron® DRI plants are hydrogen-ready by design and can start using hydrogen as reduction gas without the need to modify the equipment, the Company added

DRI pellets processed by Energiron® plants enable 96 percent metallization and variable carbon content ranging from 0.5 percent with extensive use of hydrogen, and up 4.5 percent using 100 percent natural gas. Due to the Energiron DRI technology, the global steel producer will be able to make the use of hydrogen in a simple and effective way, producing high-quality green steel in a clean environment. Energiron® is the DRI technology jointly developed by Tenova and Danieli.

“We recently made agreements about our future with two ministries and the province of North Holland. In doing so, we have indicated we want to be CO 2 neutral before 2045 and to emit between 35 and 40 percent less CO 2 before 2030. This will largely be achieved via the hydrogen route. We are replacing the blast furnaces with modern technology that uses hydrogen or gas instead of coal”, explains Mr. Hans van den Berg, CEO of Tata Steel Netherland.

Also Read: Tata Steel Introduces a Green Investment Plan for UK Steel Tube Plant

Also, Ms. Annemarie Manger, Sustainability Director, Tata Steel, informs that the new plants will be built on the site while all the current plants will be operational until the latest lines are “up and running”. The partnership with McDermott, Danieli and Hatch marks the inception of the basic engineering to be able to “flesh out our plans more specifically”, she added.