Mission

CO₂ has a main contribution to the overall greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), leading to climate changes. To combat the resulting global warming, the EU aims for a GHG-emission reduction of 55 % by 2030 and climate neutrality until 2050. To reach these ambitious goals it is, amongst others, mandatory to move the industry away from fossil resources. This implies an unprecedented transformation of almost the entire basic process industry.

Steel production represents one of the most energy and CO₂-intensive industries. Up to now, measures to tackle the decarbonization of the steel industry have been predominantly emphasized on the upstream processes. Despite lower CO₂ emissions a noticeable shift emerged in decarbonization strategies to account for downstream processes as well, e.g. in reheating and heat treatment furnaces. The technologies for emission reduction so far were based on energy efficiency, like off-gas heat recovery, oxyfuel-combustion, improved insulation and increased efficiency in logistics, energy- and gas management systems. Nevertheless, in order to reach zero GHG emissions new technologies must be developed and implemented.

The main objective of E-ECO Downstream is the efficient utilization of hydrogen, biogas and electricity to substitute carbon-based fuels to allow for a significantly lower carbon footprint in steel industry. Furthermore, fuel substitutions will result in different waste heat streams and in consequence demand for new technologies to reduce energy loss and recuperate waste heat.

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