At its location in Donawitz, voestalpine has produced the world's first high-quality "green" wire rod from hydrogen-reduced pure iron and scrap. The hydrogen-reduced pure iron was produced in the Hyfor pilot plant, the historic melting took place in the group's own research facility Technikum Metallurgie, a unique, complete, small-format steelworks.
The low-CO2 steel was further processed in the wire rod mill to produce rolling bearing steel, which is characterized by its particular hardness and wear resistance. The production of high-quality, CO2-reduced steel qualities is one of the greatest technological challenges in the transition to green steel production.
greentec steel
With greentec steel, voestalpine has developed an ambitious and implementable step-by-step plan to make its contribution to achieving the climate goals.
“We have already made a successful start on our path to green steel production and are making rapid progress with the construction work to build the two green electricity-powered electric arc furnaces in Linz and Donawitz. At the same time, we are researching various breakthrough technologies together with partners from industry and science. The first melting of hydrogen-reduced pure iron and its further processing into high-quality wire rod is a historical milestone,” says Herbert Eibensteiner, CEO of voestalpine AG.
Hyfor is a joint research project between Primetals Technologies, voestalpine, Montanuniversität Leoben and K1-MET with the aim of investigating the reduction of fine iron ore using hydrogen. In the future, the resulting hot sponge iron could be melted in an electric arc furnace or used to produce hot briquetted sponge iron.
Technical center for metallurgy
“The Metallurgy Technical Center offers us an ideal test environment in which we can quickly adapt our steels to the needs of our customers and changing market requirements. I am pleased that we are now doing pioneering work with regard to green steel production and would like to thank all researchers and employees for their commitment,” explains Franz Kainersdorfer, Head of the Metal Engineering Division and Member of the Board of Directors of voestalpine AG.
In the Metallurgy Technical Center, voestalpine researches the production of new high-performance steels, which are further processed by the Styrian group companies into special rails, quality wire rod and extremely resilient oilfield pipes. Product development takes place via a CO2-reduced route: the raw material is melted using electricity from renewable energies.
Largest climate protection program in Austria
From 2027, voestalpine will, in a first step, reduce its CO2 emissions by up to 30% by partially replacing the existing, coal-based blast furnace technology with green electricity-powered electric arc furnace technology. This corresponds to almost 5% of Austria's annual CO2 emissions. This makes greentec steel the largest climate protection program in Austria.
The group is aiming for CO2-neutral steel production by 2050 and is conducting intensive research into several new processes and investing in pilot projects that show new ways of producing steel.
