Starting in March 2024, the ArcelorMittal Bremen coking plant at the Bottrop site will be supplying three new customers of the Uniper energy group with coke oven gas. The companies ZINQ, Trimet and Verallia then receive the hydrogen-rich energy gas that is produced during coke production in Bottrop and can thus reduce their own CO2 emissions.
"With the new customers, we are securing the use of the coke oven gas for the coming years. In addition, gas flares will be largely avoided. In order to build the connections, we now need the official approvals quickly," explains Dr. Thomas Degen, site manager in Bottrop.
The contracts with the new customers were already concluded at the beginning of 2023. The necessary connections to the existing gas pipeline of Kokereigasnetz Ruhr (KGNR), a company of the energy group Uniper, are being prepared and the technical components for the connections have already been ordered.
Coke oven gas for decarbonization
Due to its high hydrogen content of 60 percent, coke oven gas is of particular importance because the customer's plant technology can already be prepared for the use of green hydrogen ("H2 readyness"). In this way, coke oven gas makes an important contribution to the decarbonization of energy-intensive industrial companies. Essentially, natural gas is being replaced as an energy source by coke oven gas, which emits around 25 percent less CO2. Coke oven gas is also important with regard to a possible gas shortage, as in 2022, as it reduces dependence on natural gas.
The necessary approvals are in the official examination, the first material deliveries such as pipes have already taken place, the executing construction companies have already been commissioned to a large extent. Construction activities are scheduled to start in the fourth quarter of 2023.
