Partly developed by Linde Gaz Polska and supported by a total investment of over PLN 100m ($23.9m), the hydrogen production plant will ensure a reliable supply of hydrogen for ArcelorMittal’s galvanising plants.
Whilst it hasn’t been revealed how much hydrogen the two companies expect to produce, the smelter in Kraków will reportedly be capable of using hydrogen by the end of 2026.
In addition to providing hydrogen fuel for the galvanising plants, ArcelorMittal also expects to completely eliminate ammonia from the process, which will increase the level of process safety of the plants.
“Our installations: the hot rolling mill and the cold rolling mill, as well as the galvanising and sheet metal painting lines, currently operate exclusively on the basis of natural gas,” explained Lukasz Skorupa, Vice President of the ArcelorMittal Poland Board and Director of the Kraków branch.
“We are currently completing a project to build hydrogen furnaces, which allowed us to eliminate ammonia in the annealing plant. Its cost is PLN 52m ($12.4m). The project with Linde, on the other hand, is to ensure a reliable supply of hydrogen for our galvanising plants.
“We are increasingly focusing on hydrogen,” he added.
Almost PLN 2.5bn ($598m) has been invested by ArcelorMittal in Kraków’s rolling mills and galvanising plants, according to Wojciech Koszuta, CEO of ArcelorMittal Poland. The aim now is to decarbonise its activities in steel and production and in processing.
Oleksandra Tuzhylina, CEO of Linde Gaz Polska, said, “As an expert with over a century of experience in the field of hydrogen production, distribution and storage, we were able to offer ArcelorMittal the best solutions available in the hydrogen sector, ensuring the highest level of operational plant safety and production process reliability.”
