Can you shortly introduce yourself and your role in the HyInHeat project?

Susanne M. Naevermo-Sand is the Head of Sustainability & Strategy of CELSA Nordic. Susanne has a degree in Mining Engineering complete with a MSc in Global Project Management, and joined CELSA Nordic more than 5 years ago. With more than 20 years of experience, Susanne became one of the most important players in the sustainability landscape at the European steel level. Her previous experience as R&D Manager will contribute to the success of the HYINHEAT implementation at CELSA Nordic, and the transferability to other six plants within CELSA Group. 

How did CELSA Nordic get involved in the HyInHeat project?

Energy & Emissions, Digitalization, Circularity, People. These are the 4 pillars that support CELSA Group’s innovation strategy, and which in turn form the basis of the company’s development.

To reduce its carbon footprint and achieve its Net Positive strategic objectives, CELSA Nordic began some years ago a tireless search to identify and incorporate new technologies in its factory and, at the same time, to help reduce emissions as set out by the Green Deal within the European steel sector. When the slightest possibility of becoming a partner in the HYINHEAT project arose, it was clear to everyone in the company that it was a unique opportunity, so negotiations were quick and easy.

How do you see the added value of HyInHeat for CELSA Nordic?

HyInHeat will provide an innovative and easily replicable way to reduce Scope 1 emissions in the Melt Shops around Europe. In combination with the already low Scope 2 emissions (emissions related to electricity) in CELSA Nordic, HyInHeat will be the trigger for the green steel transition by facilitating the replacement of fossil fuels in the steel industry. 

What is the role of CELSA Nordic in the HyInHeat project?

CELSA Nordic is the coordinator of the Work Package 6 (Demonstration of hydrogen heating solutions in steel production processes). At the same time, CELSA Nordic is one of the use cases for the steel sector inside the project. They are going to demonstrate the retrofit on a ladle preheating with H₂/O₂ combustion. The combustion system will be provided by LINDE. In this demonstrator, the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC) will perform Computational Fluid Dynamic simulations (CFD Simulations), in order to study and understand the new combustion process and the behavior of the flame. On the other hand, RHI & RWTH-GHI will carry out chemical/mineralogical tests on the refractory, to study the impact of the new combustions to the current refractory configuration.

What do you hope to achieve by the end of the project?

By the end of the project, we hope to gather all the necessary expertise and knowledge to transfer the results to the other 6 steel mills from CELSA. The ladle preheater is one of the main GHG emissions source in our steel mills, so the substitution of the Natural Gas by Green Hydrogen would be a game changer and would reduce dramatically the Scope 1 emissions in our Melt Shops.