Green future under one roof

Wind power, solar plants for electricity and heat, hydrogen from sustainable electricity: The energy supply of the future is green, it protects the environment, is CO₂-neutral and slows climate change. The goal of a sustainable energy transition is thus clearly outlined - achieving it as quickly as possible remains the main challenge. A challenge thyssenkrupp has been meeting for many years in its businesses and with its products and services.

With the newly created Decarbon Technologies segment we at thyssenkrupp are sending out a further signal: We want not just to support the energy transition but to drive and shape it as a technology leader. Decarbon Technologies brings together the capabilities of thyssenkrupp rothe erde, thyssenkrupp nucera, thyssenkrupp Uhde and thyssenkrupp Polysius: many years of experience, in-depth expertise in international plant engineering, a broad installed base and close customer relationships. But each company also stands for a key technology in the green transformation: the generation of renewable energies and green hydrogen, the storage and transport of CO2-neutral energy sources, for green chemistry, green cement production, and the decarbonization of significant parts of industrial production.

Decarbon Technologies is thyssenkrupp's 'green industrial powerhouse'. "This shows how much capability we have," says CEO Miguel Lopez, who will also lead the new segment. "For us, this creates great opportunities as part of the green transformation. We're making our own business climate-neutral and are helping our customers with innovative, sustainable solutions."

What's helping us move forward in this process in particular are our employees at Decarbon Technologies. With around 15,000 employees, this segment is a force for change. The businesses combined in Decarbon Technologies since October 1 generated sales of around €3 billion in fiscal year 2021/2022, representing almost eight percent of thyssenkrupp's total sales generated.

The potential of the businesses combined under the new umbrella is to be exploited even better than before in the next step through greater modularization and standardization of products and expansion of the service business. A good example of this is the further development of chlor-alkali technology at thyssenkrupp nucera: With the standardized, modular approach to alkaline water electrolysis, large volumes can be produced on an industrial scale at low cost!

These capabilities are combined in the new Decarbon Technologies segment

Renewable energies

The innovative and reliable rotor bearing concepts Rotor bearings from thyssenkrupp rothe erde ensure that the wind is converted into electrical energy by numerous onshore and offshore turbines with rothe erde® bearings. In addition to rotor bearings, thyssenkrupp rothe erde has been a reliable supplier of blade and tower bearings for decades; gearbox bearings are also part of the portfolio in the wind energy sector. As a technology and market leader with more than 160 years of industrial experience, thyssenkrupp rothe erde has the best chance of profiting from the global expansion plans for wind power. thyssenkrupp rothe erde is also driving the green transformation with slewing drives and rings, which are used in wind turbines as well as in the generation of solar energy. The company's products can also be found in mechanical and plant engineering, transportation and materials handling, medical technology, and aerospace. Around 6,200 employees process around 15,000 tons of steel a month for this purpose at 15 locations worldwide.

Green hydrogen

Hydrogen is regarded as one of the driving forces behind the energy transformation - provided it is produced from renewable energies. In the future, this so-called green hydrogen could power cars, ships and even airplanes; it could heat homes and replace fossil fuels in industry. thyssenkrupp nucera shows how the production of green hydrogen can work on a large scale. The 20-megawatt standard module developed by nucera (product name "scalum") for alkaline water electrolysis sets global standards by combining high current density with an optimized footprint. The prefabricated units can be easily transported, installed and interconnected to achieve plant capacities of up to several hundred megawatts or even gigawatts. Flagship projects to date include the construction of an electrolysis plant with a capacity of more than two gigawatts (2 GW) for one of the world's biggest green hydrogen projects at NEOM in Saudi Arabia and a 200-megawatt electrolysis plant in the port of Rotterdam with a capacity of around 22,000 metric tons per year. thyssenkrupp nucera is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and was promoted to the SDAX in September. thyssenkrupp AG holds 50.2 percent of the shares. thyssenkrupp nucera's roots are in the chlor-alkali sector and plant engineering for the basic chemicals chlorine and caustic soda. More than 600 plants for chlor-alkali electrolysis worldwide originate from nucera or its predecessor thyssenkrupp Uhde Chlorine Engineers.

Energy transport and green chemistry

In the age of renewable energies, storage and transport of energy sources play a major role. For one thing, the generation of wind and solar power, for example, is subject to climatic and geographical conditions and cannot be controlled throughout. On the other hand, energy carriers such as green hydrogen are likely to be produced in the future mainly in those regions of the world where green electricity is available at low cost. This is where Uhde comes in, with more than 100 years of expertise in the design and construction of chemical plants. The company is one of the world's technology leaders in areas including ammonia and ammonia cracking, methanol and biomass gasification for the production of sustainable fuel. Ammonia in particular serves as a transport medium for green hydrogen; to produce it, hydrogen and nitrogen are combined under heat and pressure. Ammonia can be transported more easily and with less energy input - and later broken down into its components again. Ammonia will also be increasingly produced in a green way in the future, making it an important building block for the transformation of the chemical and fertilizer industries.

Decarbonization of the cement industry

With a share of around eight percent - or around 2.7 billion metric tons annually - the cement industry is the largest industrial emitter of CO2 emissions worldwide. The decarbonization of cement production thus offers a major lever for climate protection. With its pure-oxyfuel technology, Polysius has developed a process that captures and separates the CO2 produced during the combustion of lime. The significantly more efficient CO2 capture serves as the basis for carbon dioxide utilization or storage downstream of the manufacturing process. Polysius is thus one of the pioneers in the climate-neutral conversion of the cement industry. The market potential is high, as cement producers are under great pressure to reduce their CO2 emissions. The company has built around 35 percent of all cement plants worldwide.