Electric process gas heating for climate-neutral direct reduction

Danieli is cooperating with Kanthal, a specialist for electric heating systems.

Swedish company Kanthal, a leading company for materials and industrial electric heating systems ever since its invention of the FeCrAl high temperature alloy of the same name, has announced a strategic partnership with Danieli. According to Kanthal, this cooperation aims to bring the electric direct heating solution for process gases developed by Kanthal, Prothal DH, to an industrial scale.
According to the supplier, the installation of electric process gas heating in Danieli’s hydrogen-capable Energiron DRI systems promises to achieve completely climate-neutral production of direct reduced iron (DRI). Further, the introduction of the Prothal DH technology into blast furnace operation will reduce carbon emissions during iron production. The gas-based Energiron direct reduction technology is a joint development by the two Italian metallurgical systems engineering companies Tenova and Danieli.
Kanthal and Danieli want to further develop the electric process gas heating technology Prothal DH up to an output of 100 megawatts. The development is supposed to be ready for the market in 2027. The heating solution is being developed for hydrogen, natural gas and combinations thereof in order to enable retrofitting of existing DRI systems. Even in DRI systems utilising natural gas, carbon emissions could be reduced by more than 30% by electrifying the heating system. “This partnership makes it possible to tap the enormous potential for a new technology which will further reduce the carbon footprint of Energiron DR systems for green steel”, Marco Lapasin, Vice President Danieli Engineering, is confident.
Source: Kanthal