The companies announced Wednesday that they signed a memorandum of understanding  for the Salzgitter Low CO₂ Steelmaking (SALCOS) project, which will move production to a direct reduction-EAF route. Tenova will contribute its ENERGIRON-ZR direct reduction technology to the project.
 
Ulrich Grethe, a member of Salzgitter AG’s group management board, said the agreement is an important milestone in the project.
“With this, we affirm our offer to politics and society to realize a low-CO₂ steel production in the near future. Thus, SALCOS is securing the future viability of the Salzgitter steel location and the jobs here.”
 
The goal is to establish a production route that not only moves away from blast furnaces but provides for flexible, incremental utilization of hydrogen.
 
“Over the last years, Tenova has been heavily investing to develop technologies able to significantly reduce energy consumption and the environmental footprint of steel production. Hydrogen plays a pivotal role in this revolution, and the SALCOS concept could represent an important milestone in our industry,” said Tenova executive vice president Paolo Argenta.