Thursday 10 February 2022 from 15.00 – 16.00 CET.

In partnership with PV Magazine, ArcelorMittal will hold a webinar on sustainability and the CO2 footprint reduction of solar mounting structures.

Sustainability and the environmental impact of PV plants is fast climbing up the agenda. Indeed, it is becoming increasingly essential to consider the entire life cycle of PV when making decisions about materials and products. For PV plants, mounting systems have a key role to play in improving solar’s green credentials, from the perspective of both projects and companies.

Steel: the material of choice, including Magnelis®

Steel is the material of choice when it comes to mounting systems due to its relative low cost, robustness, infinite recyclability potential, and its long-term durability when combined with the latest generation of protective coatings against corrosion. Given these benefits, and combined with new production technologies, the use of steel will continue to grow in popularity when it comes to the engineering and manufacturing of mounting structures with a minimised environmental footprint.

Backing up these assertions, PV Magazine webinar partner, ArcelorMittal, a leading supplier of steel and a major actor in the solar industry, will talk about its foray into the world of low CO2 steel and present solutions to improve mounting structure design, durability, and environmental impact.

One of the company’s focusses is to promote the adoption of higher strength steel products which have the potential to reduce the weight of components by up to 30% via structural design optimisation to reduce costs and, simultaneously, lower CO2 emissions.

ArcelorMittal is also continuing to strengthen the corrosion resistance of its Magnelis® coated steel to increase the lifetime of solar investments. Complementing this, is the product’s design and manufacturing process, which uses fewer natural resources and generates less run-off in soil and water, among other benefits.

Creating a circular steel economy with XCarb®

Overall, ArcelorMittal’s goal is to create a circular steel economy. To achieve this, it has launched its XCarb® programme, and has already earmarked 10 billion USD to reduce its European CO2 emissions intensity by 35% by 2030 and be carbon neutral by 2050. The programme encompasses circular carbon and carbon storage projects and clean power generation. It further aims to use hydrogen instead of natural gas in the direct reduction of iron ore (DRI).

Webinar content

Join ArcelorMittal Europe’s Jérôme Guth, Solar Segment Leader, Corinne Dieu, Product leader for Metallic Coated Steels, and Hugo Campos, Sustainable Development Manager, to discover steel solutions that not only offer environmental benefits and improved durability but that can also make a significant step in achieving the sustainability goals required for your business and our planet.

Topics will include:

•    The benefits of Magnelis® coated steel for increasing durability, including for foundations in soils or concrete
•    The benefits of high strength steel, in terms of weight, cost, and CO2 footprint reduction
•    Additional benefits in terms of preservation of natural resources and processability
•    Reducing steel’s CO2 footprint and boosting sustainability credentials via such steps as using recycled materials, electric furnaces, implementing circular carbon technologies, and using renewable electricity
•    XCarb® Green steel certificates and associated customer benefits

Text:
ArcelorMittal Europe Communications
Constructalia

Images:
PV Magazine
CWF

Related link(s)

Registration

With the European Union aiming to become the first carbon-neutral continent by 2050, new and greener fuels are entering the energy market. Some, such as green hydrogen, are presenting unique challenges for the energy transportation sector. ArcelorMittal is actively working with customers, researchers, and regulators to define new steel grades and testing methodologies which will allow green energy to be distributed across the EU. These efforts have already led to the delivery of pipes for a new high-pressure hydrogen pipeline which stretches almost 450 kilometres across Italy. But with demand for clean energy growing daily, there is much more work to be done.

Safety considerations

The availability of hydrogen made using renewable energy (known as green hydrogen) and its transport are integral to European efforts to create a carbon-neutral circular economy. But hydrogen has some unique safety considerations.

Unlike existing fuels such as natural gas, hydrogen has a very small atom. The size of the particle makes it easier for the hydrogen atoms to penetrate the steel and alter its characteristics. Over time the steel can lose its ability to withstand fractures.

New standards required

To counter this issue, international organisations such as the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) have defined standards which limit the operating pressure of hydrogen pipelines. In the ASME’s case, they have reduced the recommended operating pressure of hydrogen pipelines to 20 percent of the pressure for natural gas. That means less hydrogen – and thus less energy – can be transported.

“Defining a new standard for hydrogen transport pipes is a key priority for the EU and the energy sector,” says Olivier Brun, Portfolio Director for Industry at ArcelorMittal Global R&D. “That will enable operators to use their pipelines at full capacity and go a long way to meeting the need for this remarkable fuel.”

To help further these efforts, ArcelorMittal is a part of the European Union’s Clean Hydrogen Alliance. It is also an active member of Horizon Europe – the EU’s key funding programme for research and innovation into green energy.

ArcelorMittal steels in Europe’s first hydrogen pipeline

ArcelorMittal steels are already being used in Europe’s first certified hydrogen pipeline – a 450 km network developed by SNAM to supply Italy with hydrogen. Made by Corinth Pipeworks (CPW), the pipes utilise ArcelorMittal’s L415ME steel grade and have been certified against the requirements of the ASME B31.12 Option B standard.

 “For this project we delivered a robust new steel which will resist embrittlement and transport hydrogen gas safely throughout Europe,” explains Frederic Bouchaud, ArcelorMittal account manager for oil and gas pipelines. “The grade is a high-quality steel with low carbon content, excellent cleanliness, a homogenous microstructure, and low levels of sulphur and phosphorous. It is also available in very large widths.”

The steel for the pipes was produced by ArcelorMittal Europe – Flat Products at its mills in Fos-sur-Mer, France and Bremen, Germany. After forming by CPW, the pipes were laboratory tested at maximum pressure and 100 percent hydrogen. The testing has proved the safety of steel and will allow the pipeline to operate at around 70 percent of capacity, significantly above the standard available today.

Co-engineering partners wanted

Two years ago, ArcelorMittal began to research how our steels for natural gas pipelines behave with hydrogen. “We have also made significant efforts to develop our inhouse knowledge of hydrogen transport,” says Nuria Sanchez Mourino, project leader at ArcelorMittal Global R&D. “Our methodology and testing equipment have enabled us to support CPW in the development of the new pipes for the SNAM hydrogen network. And we will continue to invest in both our know-how and our tools.”

The ArcelorMittal teams are actively looking for customers to work with to develop its steel offer for the transport of hydrogen and other gases such as carbon dioxide. “Bring us your project and we will help you to test – and improve – the grades you are using!” says Frederic Bouchaud, ArcelorMittal account manager for oil and gas pipelines.

Stronger electricity transport

New electricity transportation towers are being developed to maximise the amount of wind, solar, and wave energy that makes it to consumers. The new towers utilise advanced high strength steel grades (AHSS) produced by ArcelorMittal Europe – Flat Products. These grades are also utilised in wind towers and offer significantly improved resistance to wind loads.

ArcelorMittal Europe – Flat Products has recently supplied AHSS grades to a leading pioneer in the development of new power tower designs.

Transporting CO2 safely

Carbon dioxide (CO2) is another gas that presents unique safety challenges during transportation. The gas has many applications in industry, food and beverage production, and chemical processes. There is also an increasing need to capture, transport, and sequester CO2 to limit carbon emissions from industry.

Transporting CO2 presents its own unique challenges. The temperature of the gas can rapidly change due to alterations in the pressure along a pipeline. For example, a failure in a pipe can lead to a sudden and dramatic fall in temperature which will solidify the CO2. The rapid change in temperature can lead to embrittlement and cracking of the steel.

Many of ArcelorMittal’s existing AHSS grades can be used to create CO2 pipelines with a high level of safety. But to increase capacity and safety, ArcelorMittal is working with customers to develop new steels and steel solutions for CO2 transportation. These include new grades and alternative pipe designs which use sleeves to limit the risk of failure.

Text:
ArcelorMittal Europe Communications
Constructalia

Images:
Corinth Pipeworks
Corona Borealis Studio, Scharfsinn, XONIX/shutterstock.com

Related link(s)

Snam high-pressure pipeline network

The winners of the SIMI 2021 Grand Prix, sponsored by Groupama Immobilier, were announced on 8 December 2021. One of the prizes, for constructions built between September 2020 and September 2021, was awarded to the new headquarters of Oui Care.  The headquarters, located in Le Mans, France, took the prize in the New Office Building of 10 000 m2 or Greater category.

Care: the key word

Initially, the designers of the project proposed the name ‘Just Care’ for the building, which the project manager imagined as "a headquarters that could best take care of its employees."

The usage of the word ‘care’ “perfectly sums up the vocation of home services - a profession based on people. Oui Care was born of a conviction: a satisfied, happy, and fulfilled employee in his or her job is a 99.9% guarantee of a satisfied customer. As a company, it is our responsibility to take care of our employees and to put them in the best possible conditions to accomplish their mission: to satisfy our customers," says Guillaume Richard, president and founder of Oui Care.

Facts and figures

The new Oui Care headquarters offers its employees 600 offices over 7500 m2, five accessible terraces over 1078 m2, a sports ground, a fitness room, and a weight room in addition to 184 parking spaces and a day care on the ground floor of the building. The site is easily accessible due to its location in the immediate vicinity of the Le Mans TGV rail station, but it also encourages employees to cycle to work thanks to numerous cycle paths. Additionally, the Oui Care headquarters has been designed with an exemplary environmental quality approach.*

Winning the SIMI Grand Prix is a great source of pride for the teams who contributed to the realisation of this project: Oui Care as the project owner and AIA Life Designers as the architect and design office.  ArcelorMittal Europe - Flat Products supplied Granite® Silky Shine steel in Sienna for the facade, which was produced by ArcelorMittal partner Ateliers 3S.

Granite® Silky Shine is a coating system that ensures excellent colour stability over time thanks to its excellent performance in terms of durability, corrosion resistance, and UV resistance.

*For more information on the winning project, please see Oui Care’s press release.

Text:
Constructalia

Images:
OUI CARE
AIA Architectes

Related link(s)

Conscious of the importance of reducing the carbon footprint in civil engineering by supplying durable products with reduced environmental impacts, ArcelorMittal is looking into the eco-design of its product range of steel sheet piles. In 2019, ArcelorMittal assigned a Belgian engineering firm with the task of designing and comparing technical and financial aspects of three different alternatives to build a 200-metre-long quay wall for a new cruise ship terminal in a Belgian port. The new brochure, Sustainable Ports – Life Cycle Assessment, focusses on the environmental impact of the two most cost-effective solutions resulting from this study and on their Global Warming Potential (GWP).

Port structures: status quo and future needs

Ports have been faced with quite a number of challenges in recent years. On the one hand, sea traffic has steadily increased and modern vessels are getting bigger. On the other hand, our planet is struggling with greenhouse gas emissions. Ports need to expand with new berths being built, but how can we achieve these goals without harming the environment?

Before building a new structure, examining the possibility of extending the service life of existing structures makes sense. This is the best option from an environmental point of view, but older structures typically require retrofitting. Hence, only an economic and environmental analysis can help the owner make an informed decision. When it comes to increasing the dredge level to welcome vessels with higher drafts or when existing structures are close to failure, building a new quay wall may be the sole viable option.

Identifying the most efficient solutions for a modern quay wall

ArcelorMittal appointed Tractebel, an independent Belgian consulting engineering firm, to analyse this multifaceted topic. The engineers proposed focussing on three key indicators: technical, financial, and environmental criteria. Their task consisted of comparing three different technical solutions for those indicators. The selected structure for analysis was a cruise ship terminal capable of accommodating the largest cruise ships. It would be built in a Belgian port, with a draught of 13 m in typical soil and load conditions for a Belgian port.

This brochure focuses on the environmental impact of the two most cost-effective solutions resulting from this study - a steel sheet pile wall and a concrete diaphragm wall - and on their Global Warming Potential (GWP).

Life Cycle Analysis and Global Warming Potential as sustainability indicators

The Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) of the two most cost-efficient solutions was based on the bill of quantities prepared by Tractebel, performed by ArcelorMittal’s R&D department, and peer-reviewed by an independent panel of experts.

The objective was to compare the Total Life Cycle Cost of the steel sheet pile and the concrete diaphragm solutions, including the burdens or benefits of the end-of-life phase (the dismantling and recycling of the building elements without considering reuse).

For this type of application, an LCA is a reasonably fair and transparent method to compare different solutions and suppliers. Although not required by ISO and EN standards, an LCA is more accurate and realistic when it uses specific Environmental Product Declarations (EPD) from the producers rather than generic data from databases.

Construction cost (including design) was chosen as the principal key indicator for the choice of solution. The key environmental indicator analysed in this case was the carbon footprint expressed as the GWP. Its impact for the base scenario is summarised in the graph for a 200-metre-long wall.  This indicator can be included in a scheme to choose the most sustainable solution, referring to the most economically advantageous tender.

The winner is…the EcoSheetPile™ solution!

In this study for the construction of a 200-metre-long quay wall, the steel sheet pile wall made with EcoSheetPile™ (sheet piles produced from 100% recycled steel in an Electric Arc Furnace) offers a 44% lower carbon footprint compared to the diaphragm wall. This corresponds to a saving of 559 tonnes of CO2-eq.

In its quest to further improve the eco-design of steel sheet piles, ArcelorMittal uses renewable energy in the secondary production route (Electric Arc Furnace), thus further reducing the GWP by around 30% (based on the EcoSheetPile™ Plus EPD).

The EcoSheetPile™ Plus range is part of ArcelorMittal's 'XCarb® Recycled and renewably produced' brand.

Download the brochure to learn more about the goals, scope and assumptions, methodology, detailed results, sensibility analysis, conclusions, and limitations of this study.

Text:
ArcelorMittal Sheet Piling
Constructalia

Images:
Courtesy of Port of Rønne
ArcelorMittal Sheet Piling

Related link(s)

Sustainable Ports: Life Cycle Assessment