Our colleagues Felix Kaiser, Mitzi Lipardo, Farhad Haddadi and Moritz Eickhoff met on 10 September 2024 together with the Gesellschaft für industrielle Wärme, Energie- und Prozesstechnik in Riesa at our project partner ESF for the kick-off meeting for the BMWK joint project ‘FlexHybHeat’. The project aims to enable highly flexible and hybrid heating for billet reheating.
In cooperation with the Gesellschaft für industrielle Wärme, Energie- und Prozesstechnik (GIWEP) and the Elbe-Stahlwerk Feralpi (ESF) in Riesa, the go-ahead was given for the ‘FlexHybHeat’ project. The project is scheduled to run for three years, until 30 June 2027, with two areas of work at the IOB: firstly, the linking of plant models of various heating units to form a process chain model and, secondly, a lifecycle analysis of the heating process. Among other things, the process chain model enables the mapping of multi-stage heating processes and the lifecycle analysis allows a sustainability assessment to take place directly in the ongoing process.
The ‘FlexHybHeat’ project aims to significantly reduce CO2 emissions from billet reheating through increased direct use and new heating technologies, thereby making an important contribution to the decarbonisation of the steel industry. The reduction in emissions will be permanently calculated using an online lifecycle analysis at level 2. The process chain models, CFD simulations and process modelling are an important part of the research project concept.
On the evening before the kick-off meeting, the IOB and the project partners met for dinner together in Riesa, giving them the opportunity to get to know each other better. The following day started with a relaxed round of introductions, with other employees from Projektträger Jülich (PtJ) and ESF represented. Dariusz Sosin (Head of Production) presented the Riesa steel site and the company’s strategy for minimising emissions and also took the opportunity to attend the kick-off meeting, underlining the importance of the project for the company. Afterwards, Hajo Hoffmann and Elena Lüpsch from the PtJ explained important project formalities, including how interim reports should be written and how to deal with proof of use. Moritz Eickhoff continued with the project presentation, where the objectives and the course of the project were discussed again. The progress made in the project by the respective project partners was then presented.
The lunch break was followed by a tour of the Elbe Stahlwerk Feralpi. There, the participants had the opportunity to have a closer look at the production processes, in particular the lifting hearth furnace and the new billet transfer line. After Hansjochen Oertel from GIWEP signed the cooperation agreement that had already been drawn up by RWTH, it remained with ESF for the final signature. This was followed by organisational agreements on file exchange and regular appointments. The meeting ended with a discussion on the requirements for the new heating concept. In the afternoon, the IOB colleagues took the opportunity to make their way to Meißen to round off the long journey with a tour of the city.
We would like to thank Elbe Stahlwerk Feralpi for organising the kick-off meeting, as well as for the warm welcome and the interesting tour of the plant. We hope for a productive start to the ‘FlexHybHeat’ project and look forward to tackling our joint endeavour.