ArcelorMittal Bremen steel plant, also known as Klöckner Hütte Bremen (predecessor), Stahlwerke Bremen (predecessor), Norddeutsche Hütte (predecessor), Einheitliche Anlage Bremen, is a steel plant in Bremen, Germany that operates blast furnace (BF), basic oxygen furnace (BOF), electric arc furnace (EAF), and direct reduced iron (DRI) technology.
In 1911, an ironworks called Norddeutsche Hütte was established on the site.[1] On April 2, 1911 the first of two blast furnaces built became operational.[1] Other initially built facilities included 80 coke ovens with associated ammonia and tar plants.[1] By 1912 a (slag) cement plant, benzene plant, third blast furnace, and a further 40 coke ovens had been installed; additionally coke gas was supplied to the Bremen region.[1]
In 1922 the Stumm group (Saar) became a major shareholder; after 1927 Krupp became the major shareholder.[1] During the Great Depression two blast furnaces and the cement plant were idled until they were restarted in 1935 and 1937/8.[1] As part of economic policy toward self-sufficiency under Nazi Germany a steel production plant was added, and ferrovanadium production began.[1] During the Second World War the workforce reached 1500, of which half were forced labourers.[1]
Bombing of Bremen in World War II practically ended production at the plant by 1945.[1] As part of reparations after the war, the vanadium plant was shipped to France.[1] The blast furnaces were demolished in 1949, whilst the coking plant was retained, due to its necessity in supplying Bremen with gas.[1] The cement plant was also retained for rebuilding work, supplied with bricks from destroyed buildings.[1]
1954-present
In 1954 Klöckner took over the Norddeutsche Hütte.[1] The first stage of redevelopment was completed in 1957 at a cost of 400 million Deutschmarks, giving a capacity of 600,000 tons steel per annum.[2] Facilities included three open hearth steelmaking furnaces, a hot rolling mill for coil and sheets, and a tinplate plant.[2] In 1960 the board at Klöckner authorised a second phase (200 million Deutschmarks) to increase capacity to 1 million tons.[2] In 1960 the ultimate aim was to develop the site as a full steel mill with a production capacity of 4 to 5 million tons of steel pa.[2] Second and third blast furnaces were completed in the mid-1960s and early-1970s respectively;[3]Linz-Donawitz process steel making converters were added in 1968 at a cost of 92 million Deutschmarks.[4] A galvanising line called BREGAL (Bremer Galvanisierungs GmbH) was authorised in 1991, as a joint venture between Klöckner, Ägäis Stahlhandel and Rautaruukki.[5][6]
In July 1994, an altered consortium incorporating private steel firm Sidmar (25% stake) was given permission by the European Commission to acquire the business.[7] Blast furnace No. 3 was permanently closed in 1994, reducing production capacity by 500,000 tons pa.[8] In 1994 Sidmar acquired a controlling stake (51%) in the company.[9][10]
In 2002 the company became part of Arcelor through the merger of its parent and in 2006 the company was renamed Arcelor Bremen GmbH.[11] In 2007 the company became part of ArcelorMittal through merger of the parent holding company.[11]
From October 2019 to September 2020, the plant was idled, with the reopening delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.[12]
In October 2020, ArcelorMittal announced plans to install an 12 MW electrolyser at the ArcelorMittal Bremen steel plant, which will allow hydrogen to be produced and injected in large volumes into the blast furnace, reducing the volumes of coal needed in the iron ore reduction process.[13] In January 2022, they received $10 million in funding to build the electrolyser.[14]
In March 2021, ArcelorMittal announced it was also planning to build a direct reduced iron (DRI) and electric arc furnace (EAF) plant at the Bremen site to further green their operations, for an estimated €1-1.5 billion investment, in line with the company's goal to produce carbon-neutral steel by 2050.[15] They plan to phase out the plant's BF-BOF capacity by 2030.[16][17] The company is currently converting one blast furnace at the Bremen plant to inject natural gas instead of coal in the iron ore reduction process thereby reducing CO2 emissions.[15] The DRI-EAF plants will be set up by 2026.[18]
Low-emissions/green steelmaking
This steel plant is associated with a green steel project tracked in the Green Steel Tracker. Details about the project are included below.
To access additional data, including an interactive map of steel power plants, a downloadable dataset, and summary data, please visit the Global Iron and Steel Tracker on the Global Energy Monitor website.
