Revolutionary heating technology transforms steel production landscape

EMSTEEL has taken a significant step toward greener steelmaking with the installation of an innovative electric Process-Gas Heater (e-PGH) Pilot at its DRI plant 1 in Abu Dhabi. This cutting-edge technology will serve the facility that already utilizes Energiron technology, jointly developed by Tenova and Danieli. The agreement for this industrial module follows a collaboration framework established during the Fifth Danieli Innovaction Meeting in 2024, marking a concrete implementation of technological partnerships aimed at industrial decarbonization. The e-PGH represents a paradigm shift in how process gases are heated in Direct Reduced Iron production, replacing traditional combustion-based heating methods with electric alternatives that can potentially eliminate associated carbon emissions. This installation positions EMSTEEL at the forefront of steel industry innovation, demonstrating practical applications of technologies that could fundamentally transform the carbon footprint of steel production globally.

Building upon established low-emission infrastructure

The new e-PGH Pilot builds upon EMSTEEL's existing investments in low-emission steelmaking infrastructure. The company currently operates three minimills for quality long products, including heavy sections, bars, and wirerod, all supplied by Danieli. These facilities already incorporate advanced technologies such as Energiron DRI production and Hytemp pneumatic charging systems that enable hot DRI at temperatures up to 600°C to be fed directly into Electric Arc Furnaces. What makes EMSTEEL's approach particularly noteworthy is that its DRI plant already performs carbon sequestration from gas combustion without requiring hydrogen as a reducing agent. This existing carbon capture capability, combined with the new electric heating technology, creates a multi-layered approach to emissions reduction that addresses multiple aspects of the steelmaking process simultaneously, potentially achieving deeper decarbonization than either technology could deliver independently.

Technological innovation through strategic partnerships

The e-PGH technology represents a collaborative achievement between Swedish heating technology specialist Kanthal and Italian plant engineering firm Danieli. At the heart of the system is Kanthal's Prothal® DH technology, which provides direct electric heating in a compact, modular, and efficient package. This collaboration, which began in 2024, focuses on scaling electric direct heating technology to the hundreds of megawatts required for industrial DRI production. The partnership combines Kanthal's expertise in advanced heating elements and systems with Danieli's comprehensive knowledge of steel plant engineering and process integration. By bringing together specialized knowledge from different industrial domains, the collaboration has accelerated the development of practical solutions for one of the most challenging aspects of steel industry decarbonization, the high-temperature process heating that traditionally relies on fossil fuel combustion. This cross-industry approach to innovation exemplifies how complex industrial decarbonization challenges often require expertise from multiple technological domains.

Comprehensive modeling supports implementation

The implementation of this groundbreaking technology will be supported by extensive modeling efforts conducted in partnership with Khalifa University in the UAE. These models will cover three critical aspects of the technology: the DRI Core Process, the process gas heater system, and the system electrical model. This comprehensive modeling approach will enable engineers to predict how the electric heater will affect both the DRI production process and the electrical grid, particularly considering the variability of renewable power sources. The involvement of academic researchers alongside industrial partners creates a powerful knowledge ecosystem that combines theoretical expertise with practical implementation experience. This collaboration between industry and academia exemplifies the kind of multi-stakeholder approach increasingly recognized as essential for developing and deploying complex decarbonization technologies at industrial scale, where both technical performance and system integration must be carefully optimized.

Pathway to industrial-scale decarbonization

The e-PGH Pilot represents an important stepping stone toward larger-scale implementation of electric heating in steel production. Danieli and Kanthal's collaboration aims to develop electrical direct heating technology capable of operating at hundreds of megawatts, the scale required for full industrial DRI plants and potentially even blast furnaces. This scalability is crucial for the technology's long-term impact on industry decarbonization. If successful, the approach could become what the partners describe as "a new pillar for the decarbonization of DRI plants and blast furnaces," two of the most energy-intensive and traditionally carbon-intensive processes in steel production. The pilot installation at EMSTEEL will provide valuable operational data and experience that can inform future larger-scale deployments, potentially accelerating the technology's adoption curve across the global steel industry as companies seek practical pathways to meet increasingly stringent carbon reduction targets.

Strategic alignment with UAE's industrial and environmental goals

EMSTEEL's investment in this technology aligns with broader strategic objectives in the United Arab Emirates, which has been positioning itself as a leader in industrial innovation and sustainable development. The involvement of Khalifa University, one of the UAE's premier research institutions, underscores the national significance of the project. By developing and implementing advanced decarbonization technologies domestically, the UAE strengthens its position in the emerging market for low-carbon industrial solutions while also addressing its own climate commitments. This approach to industrial development, combining economic competitiveness with environmental innovation. exemplifies how resource-rich economies can leverage their industrial capabilities to participate in the global energy transition. The project demonstrates how countries with established fossil fuel-based industries can diversify their technological capabilities and economic activities toward more sustainable models while maintaining industrial strength.

Renewable energy integration enhances decarbonization potential

A particularly innovative aspect of the e-PGH implementation is its consideration of renewable power variability in the system electrical model. This forward-looking approach recognizes that the full decarbonization potential of electrified industrial processes can only be realized when powered by low-carbon electricity sources. By explicitly modeling how the system will interact with variable renewable energy inputs, the project partners are addressing one of the key challenges in industrial electrification, the need to maintain consistent, high-temperature process heating despite the inherent variability of renewable generation. This integration of industrial process electrification with renewable energy systems represents the frontier of industrial decarbonization, where traditionally separate domains of energy systems and industrial processes must be optimized together. The insights gained from this aspect of the project could have broad applicability across multiple energy-intensive industries seeking to electrify thermal processes.

Setting new benchmarks for global steel industry

The implementation of the e-PGH Pilot at EMSTEEL establishes an important reference case for the global steel industry, which faces mounting pressure to reduce its substantial carbon footprint. By demonstrating the practical application of electric heating technology in an operating DRI plant that already incorporates carbon sequestration, EMSTEEL is creating a comprehensive showcase for how multiple decarbonization technologies can work together in a commercial production environment. This multi-technology approach to emissions reduction, combining electrification, process optimization, and carbon capture, may provide a more realistic pathway for steel industry decarbonization than approaches that rely on a single breakthrough technology. As other steel producers worldwide evaluate their own decarbonization strategies, the operational data and experience generated at EMSTEEL will provide valuable insights into the technical, operational, and economic aspects of implementing these advanced technologies at industrial scale.

Key Takeaways:

• EMSTEEL is installing an innovative electric Process-Gas Heater (e-PGH) Pilot at its Abu Dhabi DRI plant, featuring Kanthal's Prothal® DH technology developed with Danieli, which will further reduce carbon emissions from a facility that already performs carbon sequestration without requiring hydrogen.

• The technology represents a significant advancement in industrial electrification, with Kanthal and Danieli collaborating to scale electric direct heating to hundreds of megawatts, potentially becoming "a new pillar for the decarbonization of DRI plants and blast furnaces" across the global steel industry.

• Comprehensive modeling work with Khalifa University will analyze the DRI Core Process, process gas heater system, and electrical grid interactions, specifically addressing the challenges of integrating variable renewable power into high-temperature industrial processes.