Lanxess Switches to Hydrogen Fuel at Its Iron Oxide Plant: A Small Scale Test of Industrial Fuel Switching
Lanxess Switches to Hydrogen Fuel at Its Iron Oxide Plant: A Small Scale Test of Industrial Fuel Switching
Lanxess has begun using hydrogen instead of natural gas to dry iron oxide pigments at its Krefeld-Uerdingen site in Germany. The spray dryer is now operating continuously on hydrogen, making it one of the first large-scale industrial plants in the country to run a process burner on hydrogen in day-to-day production rather than in a limited pilot. The switch is expected to reduce the site’s carbon footprint by approximately 6,000 metric tons of CO₂ per year. The hydrogen is produced as a by-product of chlorine electrolysis at the adjacent Covestro plant and delivered directly by pipeline, turning an existing Verbund relationship into a practical fuel-switching solution.
The project is modest in absolute emissions terms, yet it carries wider significance: it demonstrates that industrial fuel switching to hydrogen can move beyond demonstration units into continuous operation on an existing production asset, using locally available hydrogen and relatively contained infrastructure changes.
The Technical Switch
Lanxess installed a dedicated hydrogen burner at the end of 2025 and has progressively brought the system into full operation. The spray dryer is designed to run entirely on hydrogen. Integration required a dedicated hydrogen line, an adapted burner, revised measurement and control technology, and additional safety systems. Once commissioned, natural gas is no longer needed for this drying step.
Iron oxide pigment production at Krefeld-Uerdingen is one of the world’s largest such operations and has a history stretching back roughly a century. Drying is an energy-intensive stage; replacing the natural-gas burner with hydrogen therefore attacks a clear Scope 1 emissions source without altering the core chemistry of pigment manufacture.
Verbund Advantage: Hydrogen Next Door
The enabling factor is proximity. Covestro’s chlorine electrolysis at the same integrated site generates hydrogen that can be piped a short distance to the Lanxess plant. No long-distance hydrogen transport, no new large-scale electrolyser dedicated solely to this use, and no reliance on a still-nascent public hydrogen backbone were required for the initial switch. The existing material partnership between the two companies—already exchanging nitrobenzene, aniline and other streams—simply gained an additional climate-relevant link.
This configuration is specific to a dense chemical Verbund. It does not solve hydrogen supply for isolated sites, but it shows how co-located producers can turn by-product or on-purpose hydrogen into a practical fuel for continuous process heat.
Emissions Impact and Industrial Proof Point
A reduction of about 6,000 tonnes of CO₂ per year is small relative to the total emissions of the European chemical industry. Its value lies in the operational proof. Lanxess and Covestro present the project as evidence that decarbonisation can work in the daily running of a large production facility, not only in time-limited pilots. Michael Ertl, head of Lanxess’s Inorganic Pigments business unit, has described the move from natural-gas to hydrogen burner as a significant technological step toward lower-greenhouse-gas processes.
For regulators, customers and other industrial operators, the relevant questions are whether the system runs reliably, whether product quality is unaffected, and whether the safety and control systems perform as designed under continuous duty. Early full-load operation supplies answers to those questions in a real production environment.
Limits and Scalability Questions
The project does not, by itself, decarbonise the entire iron oxide value chain or the broader site. It addresses one energy-intensive unit. Scaling the same approach to other burners, other sites or other companies will depend on hydrogen availability, cost, and the ability to adapt burners and safety systems. Where hydrogen must be produced by new electrolysis powered by additional renewable electricity, or transported over long distances, the economics and emissions balance become more complex than in the Krefeld-Uerdingen pipeline case.
Nevertheless, every successful continuous industrial reference reduces perceived technical risk for the next project. Fuel switching for process heat is one of the harder categories of industrial decarbonisation; documented operation at this scale helps move it from theory to engineering practice.
Implications for Chemical Site Decarbonisation
Chemical parks with existing hydrogen sources—whether from chlor-alkali, steam crackers or dedicated low-carbon production—now have a clearer template for substituting natural gas in drying, heating or other fired equipment. The Lanxess–Covestro example shows that relatively contained capital modifications, paired with short-distance hydrogen supply, can deliver measurable Scope 1 reductions without waiting for a fully developed national hydrogen network.
Customers of iron oxide pigments who track product carbon footprints gain a modest but real improvement in the upstream emissions of at least one production step. For Lanxess the project supports broader climate targets and provides a tangible case study for engagement with regulators and value-chain partners.
Outlook
Lanxess’s switch to hydrogen fuel at the Krefeld-Uerdingen iron oxide spray dryer is a small-scale yet concrete test of industrial fuel switching. By using pipeline-supplied hydrogen from a neighbouring chlor-alkali plant and converting a continuous production burner from natural gas, the company has moved a decarbonisation concept into daily operation and cut roughly 6,000 tonnes of CO₂ per year. The project will not transform the emissions profile of the chemical industry on its own. It does, however, demonstrate that fuel switching is technically achievable on existing assets under the right site conditions—and that Verbund partnerships can turn by-product hydrogen into a practical climate tool. Further replication will depend on hydrogen cost, availability and the willingness of other operators to adapt burners and safety systems to the new fuel.
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