The Steel Institute VDEh is pleased to announce the conference chair for the upcoming METEC & 6th ESTAD 2023. Dr. Heike Denecke-Arnold, Chief Operations Officer, and member of the Executive Board of thyssenkrupp Steel Europe AG, will take over the patronage as the Chair. Her technical know-how in iron and steelmaking metallurgy and steel materials engineering as well as her many years of experience in the steel industry, make her the ideal choice for this position. Dr. Denecke-Arnold says:
“The European steel industry is currently facing huge challenges. It is on the way to becoming a vanguard to achieve climate neutrality in its production routes. But it has also meanwhile to deal with the increasing lack of energy availability and increasing energy prices. The silver bullet to climate neutrality for steel production based on iron ores, appears to be via hydrogen-based direct reduction avoiding coal and coke for iron ore reduction.
The melting of the produced DRI in an electric arc furnace to crude steel or in a smelter to electric hot metal, which is then refined to crude steel in a basic oxygen furnace, are probably the best solutions. Nearly all European steel companies operating integrated iron and steel works are moving in this direction.To reach this target, policy boundary conditions must be realized in due time to afford necessary investments for CO2-free iron and steelmaking technologies. Moreover, the availability of green electricity and green hydrogen is a prerequisite to achieve nearly climate neutrality in the steel industry, also on the route with scrap-based electric arc furnaces. It must be mentioned in this context, that also the material steel is a CO2 mitigation enabler in many applications.
The METEC and the 6th ESTAD will provide answers to many of the pressing technical questions at hand and will therefore contribute to the further success of steel in Europe and around the Globe.
I am looking forward to meeting you in Düsseldorf at METEC and 6th ESTAD 2023!”
