Business in Luxembourg: ArcelorMittal’s new furnace in Belval planned for 2026
ArcelorMittal took stock on Wednesday of its “roadmap” to achieve carbon-neutral steel production in Luxembourg “before 2050”. “An approval committee is due to meet in March to validate the investment of 55 million euros for the replacement of the electric furnace at the Belval steelworks”, indicates Pierre-Nicolas Werner, head of government and institutional affairs for the group. steel industry in the Grand Duchy. We can then order the equipment. The new oven is expected for the end of 2025 – beginning of 2026”.
On the site, the creation of a degassing system and the modernization of continuous casting are also planned (for an overall envelope of 100 million euros). “This will allow better energy efficiency and an increase in steel production capacity of nearly 15%, to reach 2.5 million tonnes of steel per year”, explains Roland Bastian, Technical Director of ArcelorMittal Europe Long Products. . In 2022, “only” 1.9 million tonnes of steel were produced, partly due to “falling demand”. “We were impacted by the war in Ukraine,” notes Roland Bastian.
At the same time, the Bissen site will also be modernized “in several stages”, to become “the first carbon-neutral site of the ArcelorMittal Wire Solutions division”. In addition, the steel giant promises to gradually replace natural gas in its furnaces with green hydrogen and an electric induction system. All installations will also be gradually approved for renewable electricity.