The Graz-based engineering firm Lorenz Consult ZT GmbH is planning the steel structures for the Process Tower and Hot Compacting System of the Hy4Smelt demonstration plant at voestalpine’s Linz site. These multi-storey steel structures house central components and process steps of the plant. Assembly of the first component, the Hot Compacting Tower (HCI Tower), which falls within the scope of Primetals, has now begun. Here, iron is pressed under high pressure into compact pieces, which are then melted down. Hy4Smelt is considered the largest climate protection research project in Austria and is a joint project of voestalpine, Primetals Technologies, and Rio Tinto .
The demonstration plant in Linz combines two new steelmaking processes: hydrogen-based direct reduction and an electric melting process.
Lorenz Consult is supplying basic and detail engineering for two components of the plant: Reactor Tower and Hot Compacting System. The company was awarded the contract on the basis of decades of experience in the planning of direct reduction (DR) plants worldwide. These are large-scale industrial units in which iron ore (Fe2O3) is produced. The material passes through the individual process steps floor by floor, which places special demands on the planning due to the interaction of statics, plant technology and piping.
“Hy4Smelt is a technically highly complex plant that sets new standards in steel production. Contributing our expertise in the planning of such plants to one of Austria’s most important climate protection projects is an important task for us,” says DI Christian Lorenz, Managing Partner at Lorenz Consult.
Planning follows the construction progress
The basis of the planning is a consistent 3D model in the steel construction software TEKLA. In this software, Lorenz Consult continuously coordinates the design with the client and checks at an early stage whether individual trades overlap. Plans and data for steel construction production can be processed directly from the model.
The steel structure is assembled in several sections for each component. Lorenz Consult therefore provides workshop and assembly planning at the same rhythm, in good time before production and assembly of the section in question. The HCI tower will be assembled in two sections, and after completion of the first section, assembly of the second will start in October 2026. For the Reactor Tower, three further assembly phases will follow between September 2026 and the first quarter of 2027.
With the steel construction, Lorenz Consult is taking over a stage on the way to the planned commissioning of the demonstration plant.
