Alleima announce strategic partnership to develop and industrialize full-scale electric process gas heaters for DRI plants

Alleima’s division Kanthal has signed a strategic partnership with Danieli, a major global supplier of turnkey plants and equipment for the iron- and steel industry, to jointly develop and scale up Kanthal’s demonstrated electric process gas direct-heating solution, Prothal® DH, to full industrial scale. The introduction of Prothal® DH technology in blast furnace operation will reduce CO2 emissions in ironmaking.

Under the name Prothal® DH, Kanthal has developed a direct heated electric solution for high-temperature process gas heating – one important step towards enabling zero-emission DRI plants. The solution has been tested and verified in pilot scale and with this partnership, Kanthal and Danieli aims to further develop this technology to full scale, which means up to 100’s of megawatts. 

The ambition is to have a solution ready for commercialization in 2027, and once Prothal® DH has been installed in Energiron hydrogen-ready DRI plants, fully green DRI production will be achieved. The heating solution will be developed for hydrogen, natural gas and combinations, thereby enabling retrofitting of existing DRI plants. 

Energiron is DRI technology jointly developed by Tenova and Danieli. 

“We are progressing further in bringing large-scale electric gas heaters to the market, a crucial move to significantly cut or even eliminate CO2 emissions. We're thrilled to collaborate with a leading expert in DRI technology to enable the steel industry's transition to greener practices,” says Robert Stål, President at Kanthal.
 

“Even for natural gas based DRI plants, you will achieve more than 30% reduction of CO2 emissions when you electrify the heating system. This partnership allows the unlocking of huge potential for a new technology that will drive Energiron DR plants carbon footprint furtherly ahead in the race of green steel,” says Marco Lapasin, Vice President Danieli Engineering Centro Metallics. 

Sandviken, 19 June, 2024

Alleima AB (publ)

Contact details
Emelie Alm, Head of Investor Relations
[email protected]
Phone: +46 (0) 79 060 87 17

Yvonne Edenholm, Press and Media Relations Manager
[email protected]
Phone: +46 (0) 72 145 23 42

About Alleima
Alleima is a global manufacturer of high value-added products in advanced stainless steels and special alloys as well as solutions for industrial heating. Based on long-term customer partnerships and leading materials technology, we develop products for the most demanding applications and industries. Our offering includes products like seamless steel tubes for the energy, chemical and aerospace industries, precision strip steel for white goods compressors, air conditioners and knife applications, based on more than 900 active alloy recipes. It also includes ultra-fine wires for medical and micro-electronic devices, industrial electric heating technology and coated strip steel for fuel cell technology for cars, trucks, and hydrogen production. Our fully integrated value chain, from R&D to end-product, ensures industry-leading technology, quality, sustainability, and circularity. Alleima, with headquarter in Sandviken, Sweden, had approximately 6,500 employees and revenues of about 21 billion SEK in about 80 countries in 2023. The Alleima share was listed on Nasdaq Stockholm’s Large Cap list on August 31, 2022, under the ticker ‘ALLEI’. Learn more at www.alleima.com.

About Danieli  
Danieli designs, manufactures and installs metal producing plants and equipment worldwide, either on a turnkey basis or supplied as individual units, covering, with company-owned technology, the whole process cycle, from ore and scrap processing to finished flat, long, tube and extruded products, for ferrous and non-ferrous metals. 
Danieli plants are run by Danieli Automation process control, power and instrumentation systems, robotics, and include DIGI&MET smart manufacturing solutions (Industry 4.0).  Sustainable production is guaranteed by energy-saving processes, hybrid plants using renewable energies, and hydrogen-based processes, as well as Danieli Environment solutions. For more information, visit www.danieli.com