
Hydrogen can be produced by means of electrolysis. In this chemical reaction, water is split into its components hydrogen and oxygen by means of electricity. It is beyond doubt for us that the electricity required for this must come from renewable energies such as wind power. For the production of green hydrogen, we erected seven wind turbines on our Group premises in Salzgitter under the project name "WindH2 - Wind Hydrogen Salzgitter", together with Avacon Natur GmbH. The green electricity generated by these plants is used to produce green hydrogen by means of PEM electrolysis.
Another electrolysis is being operated as part of the GrInHy2.0 project. The high-temperature electrolyzer is the largest of its kind in the world and operates highly efficiently. Unlike PEM electrolysis, the GrInHy2.0 electrolyzer uses steam from industrial waste heat from steel production. Both plants can cover today's hydrogen demand for annealing processes and for steel refining, thus displacing gray hydrogen generated from natural gas from our production. However, the quantity required for this is only a fraction of the hydrogen needed for SALCOS® implementation.