Quality check for raw materials of the green transformation: thyssenkrupp Steel invests in a laboratory for the iron ores of the future

Duisburg, March 24, 2026. As part of its transformation toward climate-neutral steel production, thyssenkrupp Steel is investing in a new testing laboratory at its Duisburg-Schwelgern site. The facility expands the capabilities of the metallurgical laboratory and enables ISO‑compliant testing of feedstocks for the future direct reduction (DR) plant. The contract was awarded to Heat & Power, which has already designed and built a pilot plant for sinter production for thyssenkrupp Steel. The contract has a value of 2.4 million euros.

Expansion of the existing laboratory infrastructure

The metallurgical laboratory in Schwelgern already has extensive testing capacity for traditional blast furnace feedstocks such as sinter, iron ore pellets, lump ore, and blast furnace coke. Approximately 2,000 tests per year form the basis for quality assurance of the blast furnace route. To meet the new requirements of hydrogen-based direct reduction, the existing laboratory is now being expanded.

New ISO tests for hydrogen-based production conditions

The process conditions in a direct reduction plant differ significantly from those in a blast furnace process. While blast furnaces are characterized by CO-rich process gases and temperatures well above 1,000 degrees Celsius, the direct reduction process operates with hydrogen-rich gases at temperatures of around 1,000 degrees Celsius or lower. The pellets and lump ore used must therefore be tested in accordance with ISO standards for direct reduction processes. The focus is on their stability under direct reduction conditions. Among other things, tests examine whether they tend stick or agglomerate during reduction, how strongly they tend to break down during reduction, and how well they can be reduced . The latter is a decisive factor for the plant productivity, as it directly influences the reaction rate in the reduction process.

Marco Richrath, Chief Operating Officer at thyssenkrupp Steel: “With the new DR laboratory, we are creating the technical capability to evaluate feedstock quality under realistic, hydrogen-based conditions. The measurement results from the new test benches form an important basis for evaluating the iron carriers and for ensuring stable and efficient operation of our future direct reduction plant.”

The test atmosphere of the new test facilities is modeled after future operating conditions: While blast furnaces currently contain only about two percent hydrogen in the process gas, the direct reduction route is already being tested with around 45 percent hydrogen during natural gas operation – a value corresponding to the natural hydrogen content in natural gas. With the planned hydrogen ramp-up, the test conditions will be gradually adjusted to increasing hydrogen contents so that realistic and process-relevant results can be achieved at all times. Two test furnaces also allow steam injection to study its influence on feedstockspecific reduction rates. These investigations are intended to complement the ISO tests in the future, thereby enabling a more comprehensive evaluation of feedstocks and process conditions.

Raw material evaluation tailored to the combination of a direct reduction plant and a remelting furnace

A distinctive and innovative feature of the future process route is the combination of a direct reduction plant and electric smelters. Since impurities can be removed from the hot metal in the smelter through specialized slag metallurgy, the range of suitable feedstocks expands significantly: in addition to specialized DR pellets, conventional blast furnace pellets can also be used. This enables a significantly more flexible raw material strategy. At the same time, the importance of precise laboratory quality assurance is increasing, as blast furnace pellets have not yet been systematically tested for their suitability for use in the DR plant. In the future, thyssenkrupp Steel will assess DR suitability itself – with the new DR laboratory serving as the central technical foundation.

With the expansion of the laboratory, thyssenkrupp Steel is also investing in the targeted training of its employees. The laboratory teams are being thoroughly prepared for the new testing methods – from operating the equipment and evaluating measurement data to working safely with hydrogen-containing test gases.

A building block of the green transformation

The new DR laboratory is a key component of thyssenkrupp Steel’s green transformation. It supports the transition to the process route combining direct reduction and smelters, and ensures feedstock quality for future hydrogen‑based production right from the start.

The investment thus lays an important technological foundation for adapting the production network to climate-friendly steelmaking in Duisburg.