thyssenkrupp Launches Steel With 70% Lower CO2 Emissions
10/07/2021 - The company announced yesterday that the first batches of its new bluemint® pure steel products were delivered to a customer.
According to thyssenkrupp Steel, reducing carbon dioxide emissions at the blast furnace through the use of hot briquetted iron (HBI) allows for the allocation of the carbon emission savings to a specific quantity of the product. The company reports that direct carbon emissions from the production process at its Duisburg site are neutralized, while Scope 3 emissions are retained. The overall reduction in CO2 emissions is 70% per metric ton.
The first customer to receive the bluemint pure steel products is premium bathroom builder Kaldewei, based in Ahlen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.
thyssenkrupp’s approach was independently assured by international certification body DNV.
Priti Hoffmann, sustainability lead, Benelux at DNV, said, “bluemint pure steel certificates, for steel products with a reduced CO2 intensity, are based on CO2 savings in the steel production process which are achieved by changing input materials in the blast furnace. These savings are then allocated to a quantity of steel products, according to a methodology, which has been assured by DNV. The methodology for calculating product-related CO2 savings is in accordance with the internationally recognized Greenhouse Gas Protocol for Product Life Cycle Accounting and Reporting Standard.”
In a separate approach to CO2-reduced steel production, thyssenkrupp Steel said it will be seeking certification for its use of scrap in the blast furnace at its Duisburg site.
Christoph Dammermann, state secretary at the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Innovation, Digitalization and Energy, said, “thyssenkrupp is sending a clear signal here with the first CO2-reduced steel produced in Duisburg. The NRW state government is accompanying the transformation, also here at the site, with practical funding projects, such as the world’s first hydrogen trials in the blast furnace. We know that the leverage for CO2 reduction is particularly great in the steel industry. Thus, it is particularly important to harness this potential for efficient climate protection at the industrial level.”
