voestalpine has produced the world’s first high-quality “green” wire rod from hydrogen-reduced pure iron and scrap at its site in Donawitz. The hydrogen-reduced pure iron was produced in the Hyfor pilot plant, while the landmark melting was carried out in the Group’s own Technikum Metallurgie research facility, a unique small but complete steel plant. The CO₂-reduced steel was further processed in the wire rod mill to produce roller-bearing steel, which is characterized by its particular hardness and wear resistance. The production of high-quality, CO₂-reduced steel grades is one of the biggest technological challenges in the transition to green steel production.

Read more in the official press release.

greentec steel is a clear phased plan for transforming steel production with which voestalpine can make a valuable contribution towards achieving the climate goals.

In an initial step, a green electricity-powered electric arc furnace will be put into operation at each of the Linz and Donawitz sites starting in 2027, while two coal-based blast furnace units will be decommissioned. Integrating both of the electric arc furnaces into steel production makes it possible to electrify energy-intensive processes, thus reducing carbon emissions by around 30% by 2029 compared with 2019 levels. The 30% reduction in Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions—which voestalpine has voluntarily committed to as part of the Science Based Targets Initiative—corresponds to a saving of up to 4 million tons of CO₂ per year. This equates to 5% of Austria’s annual carbon emissions, making greentec steel the country’s largest climate protection program. Construction began with the traditional groundbreaking ceremony in the Northern fall of 2023, with an investment volume of approximately EUR 1.5 billion.

Following a successful ramp-up, the two electric arc furnaces will enable voestalpine to produce around 2.5 million tons of carbon-reduced steel annually, with 1.6 million tons produced in Linz and 850,000 tons in Donawitz. The EAF uses scrap, liquid pig iron, and HBI (hot briquetted iron), with the mix adjusted according to the specific quality requirements.

How steel production in Donawitz is going green. Our journey from coke- and coal-fired blast furnaces to a new route powered by green electricity.

Continuation and optimisation of the classic blast furnace-LD steel route with two blast furnaces and LD converters each, and preparation for the green steel production stages.

By commissioning an electric arc furnace (EAF) and removing one blast furnace and one converter, CO₂ emissions can be reduced by more than 30% group-wide. 

From 2030, voestalpine plans to take the next big step towards green steel production by replacing another blast furnace at each of the sites in Linz and Donawitz. Additional use of technologies such as Carbon Capture Storage (CCS) and Carbon Capture Utilization technologies (CCU)) should enable the targeted reduction of minus 50 % CO₂ emissions.

Our vision: With a clear and ambitious step-by-step plan produce steel with net zero CO₂ emissions by 2050. In order to achieve the goal net zero CO₂ emissions , the voestalpine is already researching several, new processes and investing in pilot projects that show new ways in steel production. This includes the test plant at the Donawitz site for net zero CO₂ emissions steel production through direct reduction of ores using hydrogen.

In order to meet the ambitious schedule for commissioning the new electric arc furnaces at the beginning of 2027, work has already begun on clearing the necessary construction sites and infrastructural conversion work at the two sites in Linz and Donawitz.

The basic prerequisite for integrating electric arc furnaces into steel production is the sufficient availability of green electricity at competitive prices. Even more important is providing an efficient and integrated network infrastructure. This is being ensured in the specific case of the Linz site with the Austrian Power Grid’s “Secure power supply in the central Upper Austria region” project, and with the 220kV line from Hessenberg to Donawitz in the case of Donawitz (also an APG project). Both sites also rely on generating their own green electricity, e.g., by installing PV systems.

Scrap also plays a key role in the transition towards green steel production. However, the increasing demand for recycled materials due to the European steel industry’s switch to green steel production cannot be fully covered by new scrap. It will therefore be necessary in future to increasingly utilize old scrap which, in comparison to new scrap (which is usually very pure) requires a great amount of processing and sorting before it can be reused to produce high-quality steel grades. To this end, voestalpine has teamed up with Mercedes-Benz and TSR Recycling to launch a unique flagship project aimed at demonstrating the technical feasibility of circular economy projects in the premium segment: from the recycling of post-consumer scrap into high-quality scrap, to producing high-quality steel grades in the steel-producing industry, and even to use in the automotive industry.

In the electric arc furnace (EAF), steel scrap and other iron carriers are melted down with powerful electric arcs. In detail, this means: Steel scrap is fed into the electric arc furnace. Three graphite electrodes are moved from the top of the electric arc furnace to just above the steel scrap, and with the help of electric current the electrodes generate an electric arc that reaches a temperature of 10,000 to 15,000 °C. The electric arc is then heated with natural gas and oxygen burners. The scrap, preheated with natural gas-oxygen burners, is melted for about 30 to 40 minutes and HBI (Hot Briquetted Iron) is added as required. During the steel melting process, a tapping temperature of 1,600 to 1,700 °C is reached and at the end of the melting phase, the slag and then the liquid steel are tapped off.

High capacity with maximum availability and flexible process control. Electric arc furnaces can produce the highest steel qualities by using correspondingly high-quality input materials such as HBI or high-quality scrap.

• The EAF is very flexible regarding the input materials that need to be processed
• Good controllability of the process temperatures
• The EAF can be operated in a cost-efficient, CO₂-reduced manner and optimized in terms of steel quality.