April 2024 | Salzgitter AG has now commissioned the construction of a new shredder plant for scrap metal. The construction of the facility on the integrated steelworks site in Salzgitter, directly adjacent to the SALCOS® plants currently under construction, will cost a total of around 30 million euros, and enable the processing of high-quality scrap grades.
The new facility represents a further building block for the production of “green steel” as part of SALCOS® – Salzgitter Low CO2 Steelmaking.
The partners involved in the construction of the new shredder are the Düsseldorf-based machine and plant manufacturer Lindemann GmbH and the Belgian company Lybover. Both companies command many years of expertise in the fields of machine technology and shredding, in addition to processing plant and exhaust air technology, and will provide competent support to Deutsche Erz- und Metall-Union GmbH (DEUMU) during the construction of the 189 meter long and 66 meter wide facility.
Sandrina Sieverdingbeck, Managing Director DEUMU: “In committing this investment, our aim is to strategically realign our scrap management at the Salzgitter site. We are thereby aiming to expand our scrap recycling based on high-quality steel scrap in order to enable the future production of low CO2 steel. Proceeding in this way, we are creating the conditions to ensure the Group’s scrap supply in the future, both in terms of quantity and quality.”
Concurrently, DEUMU is working with internal partners to develop the 4 SALCOS® scrap grade, which fulfills the meets the properties of the SALCOS® production process. The commissioning of the new unit is also timed to coincide with the start of the first stage of the SALCOS® – Salzgitter Low CO2 Steelmaking transformation program in 2026. The conversion of steel production at the Salzgitter site is to be completed by the end of 2033, well ahead of the respective legal requirements.
Comments of the CEOs
Gunnar Groebler, Chairman of the Executive Board of Salzgitter AG: “We know that – driven by the circular economy – the global demand for scrap is set to increase significantly. Demand for high-quality steel scrap will trend upwards, particularly due to the increasing electrification of steel routes for CO2-reduced steel worldwide. The processing of these scrap grades from old scrap will then be enabled primarily by modern shredding and sorting systems. Consequently, the new shredder is an investment in product quality and, above all, serves to secure our own requirements.
Hans Boels, CEO of the Lybover Group: “In participating in this project, we are combining our many years of experience in dedusting and processing technology in the scrap industry with the open-box system that we have defined together with DEUMU and Lindemann, following a detailed process analysis – thereby meeting the future requirements for scrap recycling and emission limits. This project will provide a long-term solution to the qualitative and quantitative challenges of processing high-quality scrap. The dedusting system will comply with the most stringent TA-Luft limit values.
Carl Gustaf Göransson, CEO Lindemann Germany GmbH: “As a medium-sized company rooted in a long tradition in mechanical and plant engineering, we are particularly proud to be working with our partners DEUMU and Lybover in realizing this challenging project in the field of metal recycling. We are all the more delighted that DEUMU has opted for our globally acknowledged expertise in heavy engineering for metal recycling machines to achieve its very ambitious aims and objectives.”
The team behind the planned new shredder
(Source: Salzgitter AG/2024)