How can climate action and industrial competitiveness be combined? North Rhine-Westphalia's Minister-President Hendrik Wüst explored this question during his visit to ZINQ in Gelsenkirchen. Together with Lord Mayor Andrea Henze, he found out on-site how the industrial transformation is being driven forward in the climate port and what contribution ZINQ is making to this.

I'm Gelsenkirchen Climate Port more than 15 companies have joined forces at the city port, including ZINQ. Together, they are developing solutions for industrial transformation. The focus is on the energy and resource transition. The initiative is supported by the city of Gelsenkirchen, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and academia.

During the tour of the production facilities, the Minister-President gained insights into the energy-intensive processes at the ZINQ site in Gelsenkirchen. Here, ZINQ keeps more than 600 tonnes of zinc in a molten state at around 450 °C around the clock. The company is working on gradually generating the heat required for this using lower-carbon energy sources instead of natural gas. Industrial process heat is an important field of action in the Klimahafen: electricity from renewable energy sources and gas are to be flexibly combined here, with hydrogen also planned for the future. In the H2Raum project, ZINQ is currently testing the use of hydrogen in surface technology together with the Westphalian University of Applied Sciences and ProPuls.

Another field of action is the resource transition: here, circular quality is to be made measurable and comparable. One example is the Digital Circular Product Passport for metallic surfaces and steel products, which ZINQ, as part of the Prosper Colleges developed.

„For energy-intensive SMEs, we need solutions that combine climate neutrality and competitiveness,“ said Lars Baumgürtel, managing partner of the ZINQ Group and President of the North Westphalian Chamber of Commerce and Industry. In the climate port, such solutions are developed and tested under real industrial conditions.

North Rhine-Westphalia's Premier Hendrik Wüst: „North Rhine-Westphalia is an industrial region – and it should remain so in the future. Climate action and a strong industry are not mutually exclusive. The crucial factor is succeeding in putting innovations into practical application and giving our companies the conditions to produce in a climate-neutral yet competitive way. The climate port shows how this can work: companies are working together on new solutions for energy supply and the use of process heat, turning technological progress into industrial reality. It is precisely projects like these that we need so that good industrial jobs, value creation and prosperity remain in our state.“

 

You can find the detailed press release about the visit of Minister-President Hendrik Wüst here.