Tata begins second iron-making project test campaign at IJmuiden

Global steel producer Tata Steel has launched its second test campaign at its iron-making project in the Netherlands, the company said on Thursday October 4.

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The second test campaign of HIsarna iron-making project began on October 3 at the company’s Ijmuiden works, with the lighting of the pilot plant’s burners.

The next stage, the company said, will be the test campaign to make liquid iron using the new technology. 

Tata Steel hopes the HIsarna project, which is a combination of Rio Tinto’s HIsmelt technology and the Isarna technology developed at IJmuiden, will demonstrate the new processes are more efficient and will substantially reduce carbon emissions from the iron-making process.

“The technology is still at a very early stage, but if it can be successfully implemented, the new process could result in the gradual phasing out of the preparatory processes, reducing carbon emissions by 20% in ten to 20 years from now,” the company said.

“HIsarna is living proof of European steelmakers’ commitment to help create a more sustainable society by identifying and developing innovative technological solutions,” Tata Steel Europe md and ceo Karl Köhler said.

The Hlsarna project is being carried out on behalf of the ULCOS consortium of European steelmakers, along with mining companies Rio Tinto, LKAB and several research institutes. It is part-funded by the European Union and the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs.