Germany-based steelmaker Salzgitter AG has announced that, together with its subsidiary Salzgitter Flachstahl GmbH, it is investing in a new walking beam furnace and a waste heat recovery system at its hot strip mill. This will reduce energy consumption and enable the use of hydrogen.
The project is being funded by German bank KfW due to its high energy efficiency. The commissioning of the new walking beam furnace is scheduled for 2028.
With the new furnace, the company will reduce its energy requirements for slab heating in the hot flat steel division by up to 30 percent. In walking beam furnaces, slabs are heated to temperatures of up to 1,300°C. At the waste gas heat recovery system, the thermal energy contained in hot combustion gases generated when the slabs are heated will be converted into steam.