ArcelorMittal Gent steel plant

From Global Energy Monitor

ArcelorMittal Gent steel plant, also known as ArcelorMittal Ghent, is a 5000 thousand tonnes per annum (TTPA) blast furnace (BF) and basic oxygen furnace (BOF) steel plant operating in Gent, Vlaanderen, Belgium.

Location

The map below shows the location of the steel plant in Gent, Vlaanderen, Belgium.

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  • Location: John Kennedylaan 51, B-9042 Gent, Belgium[1]
  • Coordinates (WGS 84): 51.169929, 3.804462 (exact)

Background

History

Traditionally the steelworks of Belgium had been concentrated in the southern half of the country, in Wallonia, close to the historic coal mining areas at the edge of the Rhenish Massif; which in part defined the area that came to be known as the Sillon industriel including the regions of Liege and Hainaut.[2]

In the 1920s the Luxembourg-based steel company ARBED began buying land next to the Ghent–Terneuzen Canal, and by 1932 the company had acquired 2.11km2. Economic depression in the 1930s, the second world war and its aftermath prevented plans for a new steel plant.[3] However by the 1950s the economic conditions had become favorable again, and the company began exploring the possibility of a plants' construction.[4]

At the beginning of the 1960s preliminary work began towards the construction of a new plant; the canal was to be dredged to enable Panamax size ships to use the canal, Arbed's land holding increased and on 27 April 1962 the European Coal and Steel Community approved the plants construction.[3] The company Siderurgie Maritime NV (Sidmar) was formed on 10 July 1962,[3] with a capital of 4.5 billion Belgian franc, of which 2 billion came from Arbed, as well as 1 billion from Cockerill-Sambre. Schneider, the Société Générale de Belgique, Compagnie Belge de Participations (COBEPA) and Compagnie Financière et Industrielle (COFININDUS) also backed the scheme, and loans were got from state banks.[5]

Amongst the steelworkers of the Walloon region the development was not so well received; in May 1960 union leader André Renaud declared it to be, "La guillotine de la Wallonie."[6]

Sidmar

Construction began in 1964, with a cold rolling mill completed in March 1966, and a hot rolling operational by the end of that year, the first blast furnace in 1967 and a second in 1968. Expansion continued in the early 1970s with a coking factory and second cold rolling mill.[4]

The 1973–75 recession caused a crisis in the global steel market in the mid-1970s. Though the company fared better than the southern Belgian steel producers,[7] investors other than Arbed disposed of their shares; Cockerill sold its 21.9% share to Arbed in 1975 due to its own financial problems, giving Arbed, which had previously increased its holding to 62.2% by 1973 a large majority shareholding of over 80%.[7]

By the beginning of the 1980s some re-investment and expansion started again; a continuous rolling mill in 1981, as well as acquiring stakes in ALZ, and Klöckner Stahl. In 1989 Sidmar's steel capacity represented 30% of total Belgian steel production.[8] In 1994 Sidmar acquired majority share ownership of Stahlwerke Bremen (formerly Klöckner Stahl, currently ArcelorMittal Bremen) from Klöckner.[9]

Further investment in the 1990s and 2000s gave the plant galvanising facilities (through a joint venture Galtec with Dutch steelmaker Hoogovens opened 1998,[10] and renamed Sidgal in 2002, followed by two more lines Sidgal 2 and Sidgal 3 in 2000.[11][12] and later the ability to continuous cast slab steel, as well as blast furnace expansion.[4]

In 2002, as part of Arbed the company became part of Arcelor, and was renamed Arcelor Ghent in 2006.[3] Under ArcelorMittal ownership production continued, as ArcelorMittal Ghent.[3]

Transition

In 2021, ArcelorMittal Belgium stated that it aims to decarbonize the Gent plant by 2030, and will reduce CO2 emissions by 3.9 million tonnes per year by building a 2.5 million-tonne direct reduced iron (DRI) plant and two electric furnaces at its Gent site, representing a 1.1 billion Euro investment.[13]

Low-emissions/green steelmaking

This steel plant is associated with green steel projects tracked in the Green Steel Tracker. Details about the projects are included below.

  • Company: ArcelorMittal
  • Stated company climate target for 2030: 35% reduction in Europe (baseline 2018)
  • Stated company climate target for 2050: carbon neutrality
  • Location: Belgium
  • Coordinates: 51.169929, 3.804462 (TBC)


Project 1

  • Project name: N/A
  • Project website: N/A
  • Project scale: full scale
  • Technology category: NG-DR --> H-DR & EAF
    • Specific technology: NG-DR --> H-DR & EAF
    • Hydrogen type: Green electrolytic
  • Year online: 2030
  • Size (m USD): 1237
  • Steel production capacity (Mtpa): Not stated
  • Iron production capacity (Mtpa): 2.5
  • Hydrogen capacity generation (MW): N/A
  • Carbon capture capacity (Mtpa CO2): N/A
  • Partners: N/A
  • Date of announcement: 09/28/2021


Project 2

  • Project name: SeaH2Land
  • Project website: https://seah2land.nl/en
  • Project scale: full scale
  • Technology category: Hydrogen production
    • Specific technology: Hydrogen production (green hydrogen)
    • Hydrogen type: Green electrolytic
  • Year online: 2030
  • Size (m USD): Not stated
  • Steel production capacity (Mtpa): N/A
  • Iron production capacity (Mtpa): N/A
  • Hydrogen capacity generation (MW): 1000
  • Carbon capture capacity (Mtpa CO2): N/A
  • Partners: Orsted, Yara, Dow Benelux, Zeeland Refinery, North Sea Port, Smart Delta Resources
  • Date of announcement: 03/31/2021


All references for the above data are available in the Green Steel Tracker.


Plant Details

Table 1: General Plant Details

Plant status Start date Workforce size
operating[14] 1966[15] 1933[16]

Table 2: Ownership and Parent Company Information

Parent company Parent company PermID Owner Owner company PermID
ArcelorMittal SA [100%][17] 5000030092 [100%] ArcelorMittal SA[1] 5000030092

Table 3: Process and Products

Steel product category Steel products Steel sector end users ISO 14001 ISO 50001 Main production equipment Detailed production equipment
semi-finished; finished rolled[18] rail; billet; pipe; panel; slab[18] automotive; building and infrastructure; energy; steel packaging; tools and machinery; transport[18] 2020[19] 2021[20] blast furnace (BF) and basic oxygen furnace (BOF)[21] coking plant; 2 sinter plants; 3 BOF (330-tonnes each, 2 installed in 1967, most recently modernized in 2020; 1 installed in 2022 by Primetals Technology)[15][22][23][24][25]

Table 4: Crude Steel Production Capacities (thousand tonnes per annum):

Basic oxygen furnace steelmaking capacity Nominal crude steel capacity (total)
5000 TTPA[26] 5000 TTPA

Table 5: Crude Iron Production Capacities (thousand tonnes per annum):

Blast furnace capacity Nominal iron capacity (total)
5000 TTPA[27] 5000 TTPA

Table 6: Upstream Products Production Capacities (thousand tonnes per annum)

Sinter Coke
6935 TTPA[15] 1200 TTPA[24]

Table 7: Actual Crude Steel Production by Year (thousand tonnes per annum):

Year BOF Production EAF Production OHF Production Total (all routes)
2020 4110 TTPA[28] 4110 TTPA
2021 4550 TTPA[28] 4550 TTPA[28]

Table 8: Actual Crude Iron Production by Year (thousand tonnes per annum):

Year BF Production DRI Production Total (all routes)
2020 3650 TTPA[28] 3650 TTPA
2021 4200 TTPA[28] 4200 TTPA


Blast Furnace Details

Table 9: Blast Furnace Details:

Unit name Status Start date Stop date Furnace manufacturer and model Current size Current capacity
B operating[24][23][15][25] 1967[24][23][15][25] Paul Wurth; Saint-Gobain (parts)[29][30] Paul Wurth Modern Blast Furnace Design[29][31][30] 2347 m³[29] 2300 TTPA[27]
A operating[24][23][15][25] 1966[24][23][15][25] 2030[32] Paul Wurth[29] 2550 m³[29] 2700 TTPA[27]

Articles and Resources

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 https://web.archive.org/web/20211224154052/https://belgium.arcelormittal.com/en/contact/. Archived from the original on 2021-12-24. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  2. Pasleau, Suzanne (2002–2003). "Caractéristiques des bassins industriels dans l'Eurégio Meuse-Rhin". Fédéralisme Régionalisme. 3.
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 "ArcelorMittal Gent : The history of ArcelorMittal Gent in a nutshell". www.arcelormittal.com. Archived from the original on 2013-01-17. Retrieved 2010-09-07.
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 Cohen, M.L. (2006). "Arcelor Gent". International Directory of Company Histories. Gale.
  5. Mommen, André (1994), The Belgian economy in the twentieth century, Routledge
  6. Leboutte, René (2008), Histoire économique et sociale de la construction européenne (in French), Peter Lang
  7. 7.0 7.1 Capron, Michel (1987), "The State, the Regions and Industrial Redevelopment: The Challenge of the Belgian Steel Crisis", in Mény, Yves; Wright, Vincent (eds.), The Politics of steel: Western Europe and the steel industry in the crisis years (1974-1984), Walter de Gruyter, pp. 692–790
  8. de Jong, H. W. (1993). The Structure of European industry. Springer. p. 73.
  9. The Mineral Industry of Belgium and Luxembourg, U.S. Geological Survey, 1994, pages 86-7
  10. Newman, Harold R., The Mineral Industry of the Netherlands (1998), U.S. Geological Survey, 1998
  11. Barrett, Richard, Sidmar strives to satisfy galvanizing demand, Dec. 4, 2000
  12. Steel in Progress : Sidmar Annual Report 2002, Sidmar, 2002
  13. "ArcelorMittal signs letter of intent with the governments of Belgium and Flanders, supporting €1.1 billion investment in decarbonisation technologies at its flagship Gent plant". ArcelorMittal in Belgium. 2021-09-28. Retrieved 2022-03-14.
  14. https://web.archive.org/web/20221031060354/https://corporate.arcelormittal.com/media/news-articles/carbon-capture-in-the-steel-industry-arcelormittal-mitsubishi-heavy-industries-engineering-bhp-and-mitsubishi-development-sign-collaboration-agreement/. Archived from the original on 2022-10-31. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  15. 15.0 15.1 15.2 15.3 15.4 15.5 15.6 (PDF) https://web.archive.org/web/20110719163152/http://www.arcelormittal.com/gent/repository/Publicaties/ThisishowArcelorMittalGentproducessteel.pdf (PDF). {{cite web}}: Check |archive-url= value (help); Missing or empty |title= (help)CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  16. https://web.archive.org/web/20220218035735/https://belgium.arcelormittal.com/en/about-us/. Archived from the original on 2022-02-18. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  17. (PDF) https://web.archive.org/web/20220111173338/https://www.oecd.org/industry/ind/latest-developments-in-steelmaking-capacity-2021.pdf. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2022-01-11. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  18. 18.0 18.1 18.2 https://web.archive.org/web/20211226043605/https://belgium.arcelormittal.com/en/innovation/applications/. Archived from the original on 2021-12-26. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  19. (PDF) https://web.archive.org/web/20220318220027/https://belgium.arcelormittal.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/ISO-14001_NL-v9_05-01-2023_400x400.pdf. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2022-03-18. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  20. (PDF) https://web.archive.org/web/20220320120211/https://belgium.arcelormittal.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/ISO-50001_NL.pdf. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2022-03-20. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  21. https://web.archive.org/web/20211226085327/https://belgium.arcelormittal.com/en/work-environment/production-departments/. Archived from the original on 2021-12-26. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  22. https://www.primetals.com/press-media/news/primetals-technologies-to-supply-arcelormittal-with-two-ld-converters-bofs. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  23. 23.0 23.1 23.2 23.3 23.4 (PDF) https://web.archive.org/web/20220121144844/https://factbook2018.arcelormittal.com/~/media/Files/A/Arcelormittal-Factbook-2018/AM_FactBook_2018.pdf. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2022-01-21. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  24. 24.0 24.1 24.2 24.3 24.4 24.5 (PDF) https://corporate.arcelormittal.com/~/media/Files/A/ArcelorMittal/investors/presentations/investor-days/European-plant-tour-investors_MJehl_2017.pdf. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  25. 25.0 25.1 25.2 25.3 25.4 (PDF) https://web.archive.org/web/20220124080638/https://corporate.arcelormittal.com/~/media/Files/A/ArcelorMittal/investors/presentations/investor-days/ArcelorMittal%20Belgium_LATEST_26%20Sept18.pdf. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2022-01-24. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  26. (PDF) https://web.archive.org/web/20220318115528/https://www.eurofer.eu/assets/Uploads/Map-20191113_Eurofer_SteelIndustry_Rev3-has-stainless.pdf. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2022-03-18. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  27. 27.0 27.1 27.2 https://web.archive.org/web/20221016084219/https://www.spglobal.com/commodityinsights/en/market-insights/latest-news/metals/020121-arcelormittal-confirms-ghent-blast-furnace-b-to-restart-production-by-mid-feb. Archived from the original on 2022-10-16. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  28. 28.0 28.1 28.2 28.3 28.4 https://sway.office.com/cRG4BxVNGUrKnUs6?ref=Link. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  29. 29.0 29.1 29.2 29.3 29.4 https://abmproceedings.com.br/en/article/download-pdf/successful-upgrade-of-the-pulverised-coal-injection-facility-at-arcelormittal-gent-belgium. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  30. 30.0 30.1 (PDF) https://web.archive.org/web/20221128015619/https://www.ceramicsrefractories.saint-gobain.com/sites/hps-mac3-cma-pcr/files/assetbank_media/Iron---Steel-Blast-Furnace-brochure-2022-web-2274441.pdf. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2022-11-28. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  31. https://web.archive.org/web/20221203223426/https://www.paulwurth.com/en/technology/blast-furnace-ironmaking/modern-blast-furnace-design/. Archived from the original on 2022-12-03. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  32. https://web.archive.org/web/20211014201932/https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2021/09/28/2304118/0/en/ArcelorMittal-signs-letter-of-intent-with-the-governments-of-Belgium-and-Flanders-supporting-1-1-billion-investment-in-decarbonisation-technologies-at-its-flagship-Gent-plant.html. Archived from the original on 2021-10-14. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)

Other resources



Additional data

To access additional data, including an interactive map of steel power plants, a downloadable dataset, and summary data, please visit the Global Steel Plant Tracker and Global Blast Furnace Tracker on the Global Energy Monitor website.