thyssenkrupp Steel and Mercedes-Benz are expanding their existing cooperation to include CO2-reduced steel and signed a corresponding memorandum of understanding in April. The intention is that Mercedes-Benz will receive CO2-reduced products from thyssenkrupp Steel for integration into its own fleet of new cars from the end of 2026. According to current plans, the commissioning of the new direct reduction (DR) plant at thyssenkrupp's Duisburg site should also be completed by this date.
New DR plant
The new DR plant is a central part of thyssenkrupp's green transformation and will be operated in conjunction with meltdown units and using green hydrogen. Compared with the conventional blast furnace process, production-related CO2 emissions in steelmaking can be significantly reduced by this innovative technology while maintaining product quality - which also significantly reduces the CO2 footprint of products with a high steel content, for example in the auto industry. The plant thus pays tribute to thyssenkrupp Steel's efforts to play a leading role in the green steel markets of the future and support automotive customers such as Mercedes-Benz in achieving their decarbonization targets.
"Under the agreement now reached, the CO2-reduced steels from thyssenkrupp Steel used by Mercedes-Benz from 2026 onwards will come from the new DR production route and can be supplied over the entire lifecycle of the corresponding model series. We are pleased to be able to support our customer Mercedes-Benz on its way to C02-neutral car production," says Heike Denecke-Arnold, Executive Vice President Production at thyssenkrupp Steel.
Climate neutral by 2045
Steel production at thyssenkrupp Steel is to be completely climate-neutral by 2045 at the latest. A decisive step in this direction was the award of the contract for the construction of the hydrogen-based direct reduction plant in conjunction with innovative melting units to the SMS group in March this year. This marks the start of one of the world's largest industrial decarbonization projects, which in the future will already be able to avoid more than 3.5 million metric tons of CO2 per year. The direct reduction plant has a capacity of 2.5 million tons of directly reduced iron and, thanks to its innovative concept, can be seamlessly integrated into the existing steel mill. This allows all downstream process steps from the steel mill to be retained, thus ensuring consistently high product quality. Not only can the existing plant structure be used efficiently, customers also continue to receive the complete, high-value product portfolio in the usual premium quality. This makes the CO2-reduced steel produced via this production route particularly interesting for the auto industry.
