Hydrogen-ready anode furnaces for copper refining have been installed at German non-ferrous metal supplier Aurubis’ Hamburg plant, after the largest maintenance shutdown in the site’s history.
These installations are part of a wider €95m maintenance and upgrade programme aimed at improving the plant’s efficiency and sustainability.
The new furnaces, which represent a €40m investment, will be able to run entirely on hydrogen, natural gas or a blend of the two.
If run entirely on hydrogen, they could cut the plant’s emissions by at least 5,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) per year.
Anode furnaces are used in the copper refining process to remove impurities through oxidation and reduction.
Roland Harings, CEO of Aurubis, said the investment marked another milestone in the company’s path to carbon neutrality.
The furnace upgrades come after Aurubis successfully produced its first copper anodes using hydrogen in a pilot project at the Hamburg site in 2021.
Aurubis has not said whether the furnaces will operate on hydrogen once the Hamburg site reopens.
The shutdown, involving 1,500 workers, saw inspections of Aurubis’ wate heat boiler, an overhaul of a smelter and the installation of a heat exchanger.
“We executed all the shutdown tasks with the highest quality – a technical and logistical tour de force, given the extreme complexity of the shutdown,” said Prof. Dr. Markus Kramer, Chief Technical Officer and Interim Chief Financial Officer at Aurubis.