Duisburg, Germany, June 10, 2026. At Germany’s biggest steel manufacturer all signs are pointing to transformation: the blast furnaces at thyssenkrupp Steel’s steelworks in the German city of Duisburg are ultimately to be replaced by a modern direct reduced iron (DRI) plant. Low-carbon pig iron is to be manufactured there using environmentally friendly hydrogen technology and innovative open bath furnaces (OBF). This is a groundbreaking move, as the steel industry accounts for around thirty percent of Germany’s total industrial emissions. The German federal government and the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia are contributing two billion euros to this future-oriented project. Stuttgart-based Drees & Sommer SE focuses on consulting services for the construction and real estate sectors. The firm’s expert teams support thyssenkrupp Steel in the areas of project design and structural engineering, building services engineering, building physics and infrastructure planning. SMS Group, a company with headquarters in the German city of Mönchengladbach, is responsible for the construction of the direct reduced iron plant.
The new plant heralds a technological watershed. It is one of the largest projects in the company’s history. With a capacity of 2.5 million metric tons of direct-reduced iron, the planned direct reduced iron plant is one of the most important decarbonization projects in the world. Dr. Florian Kremers, Chief Operations Officer Upstream Operations and Head of DRI & OBF Plant at thyssenkrupp Steel, commented: “With the direct reduced iron plant and the two downstream open bath furnaces, we can save up to 3.5 million metric tons of carbon dioxide every year when operating on hydrogen. This corresponds to about one-fifth of the total emissions of carbon dioxide caused by Germany’s steel industry. What is referred to as ‘the direct reduced iron method’ is a sustainable alternative to the energy and carbon dioxide intensive blast furnace process, with hydrogen being used as the reducing agent instead of coal. However, before the first environmentally friendly steel can leave the plant in Duisburg, there is excavating, drilling and construction work to be done.
Demanding the Highest Level of Planning Expertise
The substructure work on the site, which is not far from the existing power plant in Duisburg’s Walsum district and is the size of around forty soccer pitches, began back in mid-2024. Almost all of the foundations have now been prepared and stabilized with massive piles, access roads constructed, and pipes laid. In addition to the new direct reduced iron plant with the tower and two open bath furnaces that form the centerpieces, numerous functional facilities and structures are being constructed, including a large office and workshop building, a completely new traffic infrastructure and storage areas.
“We are dealing here with a very huge industrial complex comprising over sixty new buildings and facilities. So, the planning work is indeed challenging. The project demands the highest level of planning and construction expertise, and the utmost of all the stakeholders in terms of communication and coordination,” said Christoph Blessing, who is responsible for the large-scale project at Drees & Sommer. The consulting firm is commissioned to provide planning and consulting services across all trades. In the building design phase, Drees & Sommer facilitates technical discussions, and the company’s experts ensure the quality of plans and documents.
A High Impact Passion Project
The planning expert explained: “Hundreds of planning and construction steps must be coordinated thoroughly in order to make sure that the plant construction work runs smoothly. This is one of the project’s biggest challenges." Despite the great complexity of the project, Christoph Blessing and his 80-strong team are enthusiastically committed to it: “We are hugely motivated by the fact that we are implementing a pioneering technology. The DRI plant we are building will contribute to the transformation of the steel industry from one of the biggest carbon dioxide emitters to a climate-conscious producer.“
thyssenkrupp Steel is also highly invested in the project, which marks a turning point in the group’s history. However, the necessary green hydrogen remains very expensive, and it is not yet available on the market in sufficient quantities. The new plant will therefore operate on natural gas initially, which already saves more than fifty percent of carbon dioxide emissions. In the long term, for large-scale industrial users, such as thyssenkrupp Steel, it is crucial that the hydrogen network be expanded to meet the growing demand. This development is necessary to ensure market viability and competitiveness of green hydrogen.