Salzgitter strip unit is 92% self-sufficient in electricity

Steelmakers may still be concerned about the cpotential costs of Europe’s Emissions Trading System. Although costs will likely be less than estimated by many (see below) the additional cost of power is still a worry. However, this does not change the fact that captive power supply should still cut costs. Power generators expect to be able to pass on thier costs from the ETS to customers in full. As such the additional cost to captive production should be equal to the additional cost of buying in power. Meanwhile, steelmakers with captive power will be able to choose how to allocate their allocated carbon credits, potentially making their additional costts lower.

 Platts SBB News – 1 June 2012 German steelmaker Salzgitter is around 60% self-sufficient in electricity across its strip steel plant in Salzgitter and its Peiner beams mill. The electricity generated at the strip mill site – by two in-house power plants – has an annual market value of around €150m, the company told Platts Steel Business Briefing.

The two 110 megawatt units were finished a few years ago and have since been optimised. Strip production in Salzgitter is now 92% self-sufficient, whereas the Peiner meltshop still relies 100% on external power suppliers.

Together, the Salzgitter stations produce roughly one terawatt of power per year, all of which is consumed on site, the company said. Self-supply creates an annual saving for the company of up to €25m, according to the firm’s spokesman.

However, changes to the European Union’s emissions trading scheme for carbon-dioxide from 2013 onwards could mean that Germany’s steel industry incurs extra costs totalling up to €485m/year, according to Salzgitter’s comments to the German press.

This action would add additional costs of between €17 and €37 per tonne of steel produced, according to Salzgitter’s ceo, Heinz Jörg Fuhrmann.

New Salzgitter strip caster will reduce CO2 by 75%

The €63m in investment in direct strip casting by Salzgitter in Germany suggests that significant cuts in CO2 emissions can be achieved through new innovative technology in the immediate future. Breakthrough technologies for steel making are fine for the future, but a lot can be done now. Nucor has pioneered such thin strip casting technology (technically known as near net shape casting) and so have a few other companies, but much of the work is still experimental.

SBB 11 March German steelmaker Salzgitter is planning to commission a pilot plant for continuous direct strip casting at its Peiner Träger plant by 2011/12.

The plant will have an output of 25,000 tonnes/year, as reported previously. Combined with an inline-rolling facility it could eventually reduce carbon emissions by about 75% compared to conventional slab casting, Salzgitter states in its 2009 corporate responsibility report published recently.

Initially carbon emissions from the casting elements of the process will be cut to 0.11 t of CO2/t of hot rolled coil, compared to 0.28t CO2/t of coil from a traditional continuous slab caster, it says. Introduction of in-line rolling, in due course, could further cut emissions to 0.06 tonnes of CO2/t of coil. Prior to this second stage coming on stream, the rolling will be done in Salzgitter.

The investment cost for the pilot plant is €63m, a Salzgitter spokesman tells Steel Business Briefing. However, the German government is paying part of these costs as the technology is environmentally innovative, Salzgitter adds.

The new technology has been developed in co-operation with a nearby university and plantmaker SMS Siemag, and has already been tested successfully on a much smaller experimental plant. The cast strip is 10-15mm, and reduced to 2-5mm by hot rolling.