Europe’s leading galvanizer Wuppermann Group has commissioned the renowned Fraunhofer Institute for Environmental, Safety and Energy Technology UMSICHT to re-evaluate the environmental impact of the Wuppermann Group's heat to coat strip galvanizing process compared to the conventional cold strip galvanizing process. The study now also includes the group's most recent galvanizing plant at the Hungary site. An investigation was also carried out for the first time for the tube mills.For this purpose, the team led Fraunhofer UMSICHT’s Business Development Manager Mr Jochen Nühlen has drawn up a life cycle assessment based on DIN EN ISO 14040 and evaluated the environmental impacts as climate effectiveness in tonnes of CO2 equivalents per tonne of hot-dip galvanized steel strip. The measures taken since the last study for the base year 2018 are having an effect. The CO2 advantage of the Wuppermann process is now even greater where the application areas for galvanized hot-rolled strip and galvanized cold-rolled strip overlap - if both the use of cold-rolled and hot-rolled steel are technically possible for one application.The galvanizing process including post-treatment and zinc causes 0.080 tonnes CO2 equivalent per tonne at the Moerdijk site in the Netherlands. The reference process causes CO2 emissions of 0.173 tonne CO2 equivalent per tonne, resulting in a CO2 saving of 54%. At the Judenburg site in Austria, 0.089 tonne CO2 equivalent per tonne CO2 emissions are produced, which corresponds to an advantage of 49%. At the site in Győr in Hungary, CO2 emissions amount to 0.116 tonne CO2 equivalent per tonne, corresponding to an advantage of 33%. This includes the emissions from the production of the zinc and electricity consumed. The environmental impact of the input material hot strip is not included in this analysis.One of the main reasons for the very low value at the Moerdijk site in the Netherlands is, in addition to many measures to reduce specific energy consumption, the switch to electricity from wind power based on European certificates of origin. This is because the largest contribution to CO2 emissions from the Wuppermann process and thus also the most important lever for further emission reductions - is generated by the electrical energy required for the integrated pickling and galvanizing process. And this is one of two major differences to conventional cold strip galvanizing: in contrast to the standard process, Wuppermann does not use fossil fuels, but only electricity for heating. Wuppermann can avoid the energy-intensive recrystallization annealing, which is why the maximum temperature in the process is around 450 degree Celsius instead of 750 degree Celsius. In addition, most of the input material is transported by ship, which also has a positive effect on CO2 emissions.The Judenburg site in Austria can also report a very low value thanks to the use of electricity from hydro and wind power. In Hungary, the photovoltaic plant commissioned in 2022 also contributes to the good value. In particular at the two locations supplied with green electricity, the environmental impact of zinc thus remains essentially the same, with each accounting for around 90% of the reported CO2 emissions. The production and origin of the zinc therefore play a major role in further reducing the greenhouse gas emissions of the galvanized products.Taking into account the production volumes of galvanized steel strip at the respective sites, this will result in total CO2 savings of around 60,000 tonnes for 2022 as a whole. Customers can calculate their individual savings using the CO2 calculator on the Wuppermann Group website.
Europe’s leading galvanizer Wuppermann Group has commissioned the renowned Fraunhofer Institute for Environmental, Safety and Energy Technology UMSICHT to re-evaluate the environmental impact of the Wuppermann Group's heat to coat strip galvanizing process compared to the conventional cold strip galvanizing process. The study now also includes the group's most recent galvanizing plant at the Hungary site. An investigation was also carried out for the first time for the tube mills.For this purpose, the team led Fraunhofer UMSICHT’s Business Development Manager Mr Jochen Nühlen has drawn up a life cycle assessment based on DIN EN ISO 14040 and evaluated the environmental impacts as climate effectiveness in tonnes of CO2 equivalents per tonne of hot-dip galvanized steel strip. The measures taken since the last study for the base year 2018 are having an effect. The CO2 advantage of the Wuppermann process is now even greater where the application areas for galvanized hot-rolled strip and galvanized cold-rolled strip overlap - if both the use of cold-rolled and hot-rolled steel are technically possible for one application.The galvanizing process including post-treatment and zinc causes 0.080 tonnes CO2 equivalent per tonne at the Moerdijk site in the Netherlands. The reference process causes CO2 emissions of 0.173 tonne CO2 equivalent per tonne, resulting in a CO2 saving of 54%. At the Judenburg site in Austria, 0.089 tonne CO2 equivalent per tonne CO2 emissions are produced, which corresponds to an advantage of 49%. At the site in Győr in Hungary, CO2 emissions amount to 0.116 tonne CO2 equivalent per tonne, corresponding to an advantage of 33%. This includes the emissions from the production of the zinc and electricity consumed. The environmental impact of the input material hot strip is not included in this analysis.One of the main reasons for the very low value at the Moerdijk site in the Netherlands is, in addition to many measures to reduce specific energy consumption, the switch to electricity from wind power based on European certificates of origin. This is because the largest contribution to CO2 emissions from the Wuppermann process and thus also the most important lever for further emission reductions - is generated by the electrical energy required for the integrated pickling and galvanizing process. And this is one of two major differences to conventional cold strip galvanizing: in contrast to the standard process, Wuppermann does not use fossil fuels, but only electricity for heating. Wuppermann can avoid the energy-intensive recrystallization annealing, which is why the maximum temperature in the process is around 450 degree Celsius instead of 750 degree Celsius. In addition, most of the input material is transported by ship, which also has a positive effect on CO2 emissions.The Judenburg site in Austria can also report a very low value thanks to the use of electricity from hydro and wind power. In Hungary, the photovoltaic plant commissioned in 2022 also contributes to the good value. In particular at the two locations supplied with green electricity, the environmental impact of zinc thus remains essentially the same, with each accounting for around 90% of the reported CO2 emissions. The production and origin of the zinc therefore play a major role in further reducing the greenhouse gas emissions of the galvanized products.Taking into account the production volumes of galvanized steel strip at the respective sites, this will result in total CO2 savings of around 60,000 tonnes for 2022 as a whole. Customers can calculate their individual savings using the CO2 calculator on the Wuppermann Group website.
