ArcelorMittal Poland puts hydrogen furnaces into operation in Krakow

ArcelorMittal Poland, a subsidiary of the global steelmaker ArcelorMittal, is commissioning new hydrogen furnaces in its annealing shop in Krakow. This is stated in the company’s announcement.

Investments in the project amounted to PLN 52 million ($12.5 million). Thanks to the project, the company eliminated ammonia from the annealing process and reduced its duration, which reduced the consumption of natural gas and electricity and reduced carbon emissions by 50%.

As part of the project, the company demolished its old cap furnaces to install nine new furnace stations in their place. The plant is currently at the launch stage.

“Replacing the recently operating units with new ones with a 100 percent hydrogen atmosphere is a technological leap. It is worth noting that these are the only hydrogen furnaces from abroad in Poland and the first in the ArcelorMittal Group in Europe,” said Kamil Kaczmarek, Maintenance Manager at the Cold Rolling Shop and Technical Project Manager.

According to him, the plant’s elements were manufactured in Poland, Austria and the United States.

Krzysztof Masternak, Quality Support Manager at ArcelorMittal Poland, explains that in addition to environmental benefits, the construction of the new plant also has development potential in the field of production quality. Thanks to new technical solutions, it is possible to better control the technological process.

“For our customers, the purity of the surface of the supplied product and the stability of mechanical properties are key elements,” he said.

As the company reminded, Krakow has the most modern hot strip mill in Europe, built in 2007 at a cost of PLN 1.2 billion, as well as a cold rolling mill with galvanizing and painting lines. In total, the cost of investments in the processing part of the plant since its acquisition by ArcelorMittal in 2004 is approaching PLN 2.5 billion.

Last November, ArcelorMittal Poland announced the launch of a project to build a hydrogen production plant on the territory of its Krakow division. The initiative, which the global steelmaker is implementing together with Linde Gaz Polska, aims to provide hydrogen for two galvanizing lines, which will reduce the environmental impact and improve the safety of production processes. The total cost of the project exceeds PLN 100 million, and the launch of hydrogen production is scheduled for the end of 2026.