The Kraków smelter is expected to be ready to use hydrogen by 2026, with total investment in the project expected to exceed PLN 100 million. ArcelorMittal Poland reported that coal has not been used as fuel at the Kraków branch since 2018 and that coke production stopped as of July this year.
Łukasz Skorupa, COO of Flat Products & Quality and branch manager, reports that the hot rolling mill, cold rolling mill, galvanizing, and sheet painting lines at the Kraków branch run exclusively on natural gas also stated: "We are currently completing a project to build hydrogen furnaces, which allowed us to eliminate ammonia in the annealing plant. Its cost is PLN 52 million. The project with Linde, on the other hand, is to ensure a reliable supply of hydrogen for our galvanizing plants. We are increasingly focusing on hydrogen."
The plant is reported to produce hydrogen from natural gas and designs for the project, for which investment has already begun, are still in progress. ArcelorMittal Poland's Kraków branch not only switches to hydrogen fuel in its galvanizing plants but also achieves another eco-gain. It was emphasized that the new process aims to completely eliminate ammonia, thus significantly increasing the process safety level of the plants.
Wojciech Koszuta, CEO of ArcelorMittal Poland stated: "Since 2004, we have already invested nearly PLN 2.5 billion in Kraków's rolling mills and galvanizing plants. We are constantly improving the quality of our products, expanding their product range, and at the same time gradually reducing our environmental impact," and concluded, “Hence the elimination of ammonia and the transition to hydrogen. The decarbonization of our company is not only about activities in the area of steel production, but also in the processing part”
Oleksandra Tuzhylina, CEO of Linde Gas Polska emphasized: "As an expert with over a century of experience in the field of hydrogen production, distribution and storage, we were able to offer ArcelorMittal the best solutions available in the hydrogen sector, ensuring the highest level of operational plant safety and production process reliability."
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