EMSTEEL proceeds with DRI carbon-reduction program with Danieli

Steelmaking operations will be even greener at EMSTEEL thanks to the installation of an e-PGH Pilot (electric Process-Gas Heater) serving the DRI plant #1 at Abu Dhabi works, UAE, a plant that uses the Energiron technology jointly developed by Tenova and Danieli.

The agreement for the supply of the industrial module follows the collaboration agreement set during the Fifth Danieli Innovaction Meeting, in 2024.

EMsteel has been operating three low-emission minimills for quality long products –heavy sections, bars and wirerod– supplied by Danieli, and featuring Energiron DRI technology and Hytemp pneumatic charging for hot DRI up to 600 °C into the EAF.

The installation of the e-PGH Pilot will allow EMSTEEL to further reduce the carbon emission from the DRI plant, which is already performing carbon sequestration from gas combustion, and without the use of hydrogen.

The equipment will be based on the direct electric-heating solution developed jointly by Kanthal and Danieli, with the core element of Prothal^® DH, which is compact, modular and efficient.

In 2024, Kanthal and Danieli started the collaboration on electrical direct heating technology in the range of hundreds of megawatts of electricity for a DRP. Once installed, this technology is expected to become a new pillar for the decarbonization of DRI plants and blast furnaces.

With the support of Khalifa University in the UAE, Danieli and EMSTEEL will develop various models covering DRI Core Process,  process gas heater system, and system electrical model to predict the effects on the DRI process and the grid from the use of the new electrical heater, and with the variability of renewable power.