Research for more sustainability

Thanks to this commitment, we are constantly developing products that underline our sustainability approach. The products presented at our internal R&D Day 2024 included

• Pipe solutions for hydrogen storage;
• Cast components for energy generation and storage and
• Sustainable solutions for rail tracks.

In their contributions, companies from all voestalpine divisions presented product developments and process improvements that illustrate our sustainability efforts. These included new processes for scrap sorting as well as profiles for the construction of ultra-modern CSP plants for the utilization of concentrated solar power.

Like the steel industry, energy supply and storage should also be based on green hydrogen in the future. The EU calculates a demand of 10 million tons for 2030. In order to transport such quantities, a further 30,000 km of hydrogen pipelines would have to be built in Europe by then and reliable stationary and mobile storage solutions would have to be created.

The researchers at voestalpine Tubulars were able to point to our research lead in terms of hydrogen-resistant pipes and connections: Successful test series in our own test centers and external laboratories are now being followed by tests under the real conditions of underground storage facilities. These include constant load tests and suitability tests in caverns, for which a special sample holder was developed.

With the tube solutions from voestalpine Tubulars, we can create a solid basis for high-strength stationary and mobile hydrogen storage systems. By additionally reinforcing them with wires from voestalpine Wire, we may be able to achieve a further advantage: It reduces the weight of the storage tank by about 20 percent.

New developments for energy storage and optimized energy generation processes were also presented by the researchers and developers of the voestalpine Foundry Group. The focus was on the growing demands on castings and materials. This is because energy storage and conversion processes require components that can withstand high temperatures, changing heat loads and aggressive media.

The voestalpine Foundry focuses on projects such as:

• Electro-thermal storage solutions with liquid salts at high temperature;
• sCO₂ : supercritical CO₂ replaces water vapor as a heat transfer medium in closed circuits, e.g. in small power plants at industrial sites;
• CCUS: Utilization and storage of carbon dioxide.

We manufacture compressors, valves and turbine components for these applications in the voestalpine Foundry Group from specially developed, heat-stable alloys. Our castings for use in sCO₂ and other plants can withstand high heat peaks during combustion – the first deliveries will therefore go to the USA in 2025 for a pilot project.

The R&D employees worked closely with their colleagues at voestalpine Böhler Welding to ensure that the components could be perfectly integrated into the units. Together, they succeeded in coordinating cast steel, welding consumables and shielding gas options so that all requirements for the joints could be met.

Rail is already considered the most sustainable means of transportation. In order to further reduce its ecological footprint, our researchers at voestalpine Railway Systems are focusing on the entire track superstructure system. By replacing rails made from conventional steel grades with innovative grades, such as 400 UHC^® HSH^® and 340 Dobain^® HSH^® , the service life and grinding cycles can be significantly extended for the same load.

Traditional rail and sleeper designs are recalculated using modern simulation methods. By reducing ballast stress, the service life of the tracks and their planned maintenance intervals can be extended, thus achieving an overall cost optimum.

In addition, the CO₂ footprint of the railroad benefits from our product improvements, e.g. through

• the increased service life; but also through
• the use of greentec steel, which reduces emissions by approx. 30 %; or
• the use of sleepers made of granulated blast furnace slag cement: approx. 25 % reduction.

At the inernal conference, the researchers pointed out the need to consider railroads as an overall system, in which particular emphasis should be placed on the coordination of the individual components.

Not only is our R&D Day traditional, but it is also directly linked to voestalpine’s Digitalization Day. A bridge between the two events was built by voestalpine Head of Research Kurt S.

With the use of artificial intelligence, we will be expanding our range of sustainable products and services even further in future.