thys­sen­krupp rothe erde is brea­king new ground in climate protec­tion: with a carbo­niza­tion plant that is unique in this form in Germany to date, the company is taking a major step toward redu­cing CO2 with PYREG’s inno­va­tive NetZero technology.

In the carbo­niza­tion plant, resi­dual wood is carbo­nized in a pyro­lysis process. This produces rege­ne­ra­tive heat and biochar. “Our carbo­niza­tion plant is unique in Germany in terms of its dimen­sions and is the first time nega­tive emis­sion tech­no­logy has been inte­grated in a German indus­trial group,” explains Dr. Wilfried Spintig, COO at thys­sen­krupp rothe erde. “We use the heat gene­rated in the pyro­lysis process for our produc­tion site in Lipp­stadt and can thus cover around 40% of our on-site heat requi­re­ments.” This rene­wable heat replaces previously fossil fuels. By way of compa­rison, the heat produced in the plant is equi­va­lent to the annual demand of almost 300 households.
The feedstock used in Lipp­stadt is unpro­cessed and uncon­ta­mi­nated wood, consis­ting on the one hand of pack­a­ging resi­dues and on the other of suitably dried green waste. Around 2,500 metric tons of resi­dual wood are used annu­ally to gene­rate over 5,300 MWh of heat and around 640 metric tons of biochar, which is used among other things as a soil condi­tioner in agri­cul­ture. “thys­sen­krupp rothe erde will be climate-neutral by 2050, and to achieve this we are also constantly looking for new ways to imple­ment decar­bo­niza­tion at our company,” explains Wilfried Spintig. “This plant is also a pilot project for us and, in our eyes, can be a buil­ding block for a meaningful jump-start on the way to decar­bo­niza­tion for other indus­tries as well.”

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foto / source: Chris­tian Deut­scher, thys­sen­krupp rothe erde