Tata Steel’s IJmuiden Works is located on the North Sea Coast of the Netherlands and produces organic and metallic coated strip products for Global markets through its basic oxygen steelmaking, thin strip caster, hot strip mill, annealing lines, cold mills and metallic/organic coating lines.

The site is capable of producing up to about 7,500,000 tonnes/year of hot/cold  rolled coil in a variety of finishes. The plant comprises 2 coke batteries, 1 pelletizing plant, 1 sinter plant, 2 blast furnaces, 1 basic oxygen plant, 1 hot strip mill and thin strip caster, cold rolling mills, 3 galvanizing lines (including 2 with optional in-line organic coating facilities), 1 pre-finished steel line, hot pickling, annealing and tinning lines.

Ironmaking
2 blast furnaces produce the liquid iron using pellets from the pelletizing plant and sinter supplied by the sintering plant. Coke is supplied by 2 coking plants. 

Oxygen steelmaking
The liquid iron is supplied to the basic oxygen plant which casts the steel into slabs or supplies liquid steel to the thin strip caster. The thin strip caster and in-line rolling mill reduce the steel thickness to approximately 1mm.

Hot rolling mill
The slabs are further processed in the hot rolling mill. There are three gas fired reheat furnaces. After exiting the furnaces the slabs passes through a series of rolling mills reducing the thickness from a slab thickness of 21cm to a final thickness of 1,0-25mm to give coils with a maximum weight of 35 tonnes. The hot mill coils are sold without further treatment, or can undergo further processing.

Pickling and oiling
Hot rolled coils are transported for processing on one of the pickling lines in order to remove the oxide scale formed during the rolling process. After exiting the final tank the strip passes through rinse & drying sections. Finishing operations including: trimming, oiling, cutting and recoiling are then undertaken prior to direct dispatch or further processing.

Cold rolling
Cold reduction of hot rolled pickled steel is undertaken on various cold mills in the plant. Processed coils are stored pending transportation/further process, in the 'dispatch bay'. 

Galvanizing
3 hot dip galvanizing lines are in operation at the site. The strip is annealed and coated with Zinc or Magizinc. In-line tension levelling, cold rolling and organic coating are optional to improve surface quality, shape and metallurgical properties.

Pre-finished steel
After galvanizing the coil can be further processed by application of an organic coat of Polyester, PVDF or Polyurethane to increase corrosion resistance and to enhance aesthetics.

Tinning
After cold rolling the coils can be further processed in the packaging unit. The product can be continuous annealed followed by application of a layer of Tin in one of the tinning lines.

• Greenhouse gas emissions
• Resource use and waste management
• Water extraction
• Transport impacts
• Employment and skills
• Local communities
• Performance data

Greenhouse gas emissions

The greenhouse gas emissions from our IJmuiden site are emissions of carbon dioxide resulting from the combustion of natural gas in heat treatment processes. Indirectly, the site contributes to CO2 emissions associated with the consumption of electricity for conveyance, pumping, cooling etc.

Tata Steel’s IJmuiden plant is one of the world leaders in terms of low emission steelmaking. It is in the top five of Worldsteel’s environmental benchmark of 52 global steel makers.

Tata Steel Ijmuiden launched the Zero Carbon Roadmap in 2019 to achieve our ambition to produce steel in a carbon-neutral way by 2050 and to have reduced 30% of our CO2 emissions by 2030 by transforming our processes.

The following projects are important steps in the roadmap:

Everest (Enhancing Value by Emissions Reuse and Emission Storage) Project:
The project consists of two phases. After all plans have been approved and licensed, Tata Steel first builds an installation to capture CO2 from process gases that are generated during the production processes. The captured CO2 is then delivered to the Athos(Amsterdam-IJmuiden CO2 Transport Hub & Offshore Storage) network. Athos is a collaboration between EBN, Gasunie, Port of Amsterdam and Tata Steel. Athos will manage the transport, reuse and storage of CO2 in the North Sea Canal area. The capture of CO2 offers the innovative possibility in the second phase, in collaboration with other market parties, to convert the remaining gases into usable raw materials. Tata Steel IJmuiden aims to be able to implement this from 2027. The capture of CO2 in the first phase is expected to result in a reduction of approximately 3 million tons of CO2 per year. This means that we will be producing 1.5 million tons of CO2-free steel. You could say that around 1.3 million cars per year are driving around made of our climate-neutral steel. Phase 2, which concerns the reuse of process gases, will result in a reduction of approximately 4 million tons of CO2 per year.”

ATHOS (Amsterdam-IJmuiden CO2 Transport Hub & Offshore Storage) project :
CCUS (Carbon Capture, Usage & Storage) consists of the capture and compression of the CO2, which is then removed for storage and possible future use.
Gasunie, EBN, Port of Amsterdam and Tata Steel completed a feasibility study into CO2 capture, transport, storage and reuse (CCUS, Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage) in 2019.
The results of this study show that such a CCUS network is technically feasible.
For example, it has emerged that companies in the North Sea Canal area have the potential to reduce emissions by up to 7.5 MT (million tons) of CO2 per year by 2030, via CCUS.
The project is also open to other participants.

Hermes project:
Reduction of iron ore with Hydrogen requires enormous amounts of hydrogen from renewable sources. It is unlikely that we will have enough supplies - and the technology to produce steel with hydrogen - until at least 2040. In anticipation of the growing demand for hydrogen, Tata Steel has announced a partnership with chemical company Nouryon and Port of Amsterdam to develop the largest green hydrogen cluster in Europe.
The companies are jointly investigating the feasibility of a water electrolysis installation for the production of hydrogen and oxygen in the Tata Steel steel plant in IJmuiden in the Netherlands.
The 100-megawatt renewable energy-powered water electrolysis facility would be located in the Amsterdam region of the Netherlands and would be capable of producing 15,000 tons of hydrogen a year, as well oxygen for industrial use at Tata Steel’s IJmuiden Works.

HIsarna
HIsarna, a radical new technology for making iron, has been in development since 2011. By 2033, our ambition is to have it scaled up it at full scale and it is ready to replace one of our blast furnaces. HIsarna can cut up to 100% of CO2 emissions, when combined with carbon capture. In combination with an Electric Arc Furnace, It is also possible to recover zinc - often found in scrap - for reuse.

Further areas for reduction in CO2 relate to:

• The efficient use of natural gas in furnace operations. The progressive setting of stretch targets for furnace efficiencies have resulted in energy intensity performance which is considered best in class. Those involved with the improvements have received in-company accolade via a 'reward & recognition' scheme.
• projects to increase use of by-products/waste energy (e.g. residual heat project)
• PV project : approx - 1,2 MWp project planned at a distribution building at TSIJ site.
• projects to increase the share of renewable energy e.g. windmill, Ferrum project, The wind farm is a collaborative project between steel company Tata Steel, sustainable energy developer Infinergy, Wind Collective Noord-Holland and environmental consultancy Royal HaskoningDHV, with Infinergy and the Wind Collective as shareholders.In July 2017, the Provincial Executive of the Province of Noord-Holland gave the project the green light. The wind farm was formally completed in October 2020.
• projects to develop new products which reduce CO2 for our customers (e.g. high strength steel for car bodies, transpired solar collectors for construction applications, etc.)

IJmuiden is also covered by a new energy efficiency governance process established within Tata Steel Europe, whereby its energy performance has been compared to a benchmark as part of a gap analysis exercise. The site has generated a series of schemes aimed at bridging the gap with best practice.

Resource use and waste management

In line with our objective to reduce / eliminate wastes to landfill, at our site in IJmuiden, we have been seeking to segregate wastes at source, to maximise recycling & recovery potential. The target for 98% of (general) waste recycled /recovered has been set and achieved.

Water extraction

Despite the fact that at IJmuiden we use predominantly 'waste' water from the water treatment industry as the main process supply, there is still every incentive to use this resource efficiently (in line with our environmental policy commitment). Over recent years, many projects have been implemented on both process & domestic supplies, to progressively (and appreciably) reduce water usage and improve efficiency.

Transport impacts

As shipping and logistics activities are managed centrally within Tata Steel it is not possible to disaggregate the CO₂ emissions associated with the production and delivery of specific products from specific locations from the total estimate of Tata Steel transport impacts. See the general page for [information on Tata Steel’s transport impacts] and some of the steps we are taking to reduce these.

Employment and skills

Tata Steel applies a common approach to employment and skills at all, of its sites. The Tata Steel Academy is based at the IJmuiden site and offers a large range of courses and training modules in co-operation with 15 academia/universities. See the general page for information on what [Tata Steel is doing to advance the learning and development of its employees].

Local communities

At IJmuiden, we have for many years enjoyed a strong and active relationship with the local community, and are seeking to make this relationship more sustainable by extending our sponsorship, donations, and community strategies further to local schools, charities, and sports clubs (eg Telstar). Approximately 15.000 -20.000 people (schools, universities, local communities, NGO’s, customers, etc) visit the site and tour the facilities to learn about responsible steelmaking. IJmuiden also hosts the annual Tata Steel World Chess Tournament.

Performance data

Verified EU ETS

Worldsteel scope

Emissions and consumption performance at IJmuiden is very heavily influenced by the amount of production at the site in any given year.

Tata Steel Ijmuiden announced a 300 mio Eur additional investment package to improve the environmental performance of the plant. Focus will be on construction of a Nox cleaning at the pelletizing plant ( Eur 150 mio ) , improvements at the cokefactory (Eur 50mio).