From scrap for scrapMATERIAL HANDLER MADE OF CO2-REDUCED STEEL SETS NEW STANDARDS IN EUROPE
A pioneering project between SENNEBOGEN Maschinenfabrik GmbH and the Salzgitter Group impressively demonstrates how circular economy works in steel construction: In response to a special order from its long-standing customer DEUMU, SENNEBOGEN has produced a material handler made of CO2-reduced steel from the electric arc furnace route for the first time. Compared to conventional steel production in a blast furnace (including green energy), the use of 100 percent scrap causes more than 70 percent less CO2 emissions – and thus significantly reduces the CO2 footprint of the final product. A groundbreaking result with a signaling effect for the entire industry.
Success Story: Umschlagbagger von SENNEBOGEN
Planning meeting for the material handler made of SALCOS® steel with three people at the table
Planning meeting at DEUMU, from left to right: Mr. Sticka, Mr. Rehren, Mr. Henningsen

INNOVATION THROUGH
SHARED GOALS

When a scrap yard needs new material handlers, a forward-looking opportunity arises: Why not think the recycling idea through consistently and set an example of sustainability yourself? “During a meeting at SENNEBOGEN in Straubing, a suggestion was proposed that immediately impressed everyone involved”, recalls Dirk Henningsen, who heads steel processing at the scrap recycling company DEUMU (Deutsche Erz- und Metall-Union GmbH). “We asked SENNEBOGEN if they could build us a machine that is not available on the market: a material handler made of CO2-reduced steel, obtained from steel scrap.” SENNEBOGEN president Erich Sennebogen approved it immediately. He is a passionate engineer – such an enhancement of his sophisticated products was exactly to his taste. Furthermore, the extraordinary idea was perfectly suited to the sustainability goals of the SENNEBOGEN machine construction company. And so, without further ado, a unique project was born that has the potential to change an entire industry.

STEEL, A REGENERATIVE
MATERIAL

As a scrap recycling company and 100 percent subsidiary of Salzgitter AG, DEUMU sees itself as an ambassador for a sustainable future, wants to make the topic of green steel more popular – and has direct access to the source material: It delivers steel scrap to Peiner Träger GmbH, which also belongs to Salzgitter AG. Peiner Träger fully recycles the scrap via its electric arc furnace route and processes it into slabs. The Salzgitter Group then uses the slabs to produce a wide range of low-emission steel products, which are sold under the SALCOS® brand name.

In the value chain of Salzgitter AG, DEUMU is responsible not only for the provision of scrap but also for the further processing of the CO2-reduced steel. SENNEBOGEN receives the steel parts required for the new material handler directly from DEUMU, ready for welding.

Scrap yard of DEUMU (Deutsche Erz- und Metall-Union GmbH) with stored steel scrap and stacked scrap cars in a large pile.
Industrial worker at Peiner Träger GmbH monitors the CO2-reduced steel processing inside of the electric arc furnace with sparks, flames and smoke.
Glowing slab on a roller conveyor during hot rolling in the Salzgitter AG production hall.
DEUMU employee wearing suitable protective clothing grinds slabs of CO2-reduced steel with flying sparks in a production hall.
Red beaver welding robot welds metal part in a production hall, sparks fly during the welding process.
Employee using a crane to place a metal sheet on a roller conveyor in a production hall with machines and CO2-reduced steel beams.

Step by step to CO2-reduced steel

How scrap is turned into new steel components for construction and material handling machines

The entire process can be mapped under the umbrella of Salzgitter AG – from the procurement of steel scrap to the newly manufactured component.

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DEUMU supplies steel scrap to Peiner Träger. The scrap comes from various sources: directly from the Salzgitter Group, from the production of Salzgitter customers, or, in the event of shortages, it is also obtained from trading partners.

The Peiner Träger processes the scrap into slabs using the low-emission electric arc furnace route. This makes the old steel recyclable without any loss of quality.

The slabs are then delivered to the subsidiaries Ilsenburger Grobblech or Salzgitter Flachstahl, depending on their intended use. These subsidiaries use the slabs to produce high-quality sheet metal through a rolling process.

Now the material is coming back to DEUMU: in the steel processing plant, the metal sheets are cut to size on the plasma or oxyfuel cutters, the parts are deburred and further processed as required by the customer. During the manufacturing process, a roll straightening machine ensures that all parts are straightened precisely and free of tension.

Foto von Michael Ibarth, Director of Marketing/Corporate Communications at SENNEBOGEN

LEVER FOR LARGE-SCALE
DECARBONIZATION

“DEUMU has brought up an issue that was not even on our radar. There is considerable untapped potential. We are always focusing on efficiency when developing our machines – more handling, less consumption, state-of-the-art drives – and generally on more sustainability, e.g. through an even longer service life and simplified maintainability. It was made very clear to us here that we can massively reduce the ecological footprint of our machines in the long term by using low-emission steel, without great effort and additional development costs."

Machine design meets sustainability: The newly developed SENNEBOGEN 830 G was chosen for the pioneering project “CO2-reduced material handler”. As part of the new generation of G-Series machines, it will be exhibited to the public for the first time at the international trade fair bauma 2025 in Munich and is ideally suited for the planned application at DEUMU – the handling of steel scrap at the largest scrap yard in Germany.

“Steel is a miracle product because of its recyclability. This lever for decarbonizing the entire steel processing industry is enormous.”

Michael Ibarth,
Director of Marketing/Corporate Communications at SENNEBOGEN

IMPRESSIONS OF THE PRODUCTION
OF THE MATERIAL HANDLER

The individual components are welded, painted and assembled in the SENNEBOGEN plants.

SENNEBOGEN welder with protective clothing connecting metal parts of an excavator made of CO₂-reduced steel, surrounded by flying sparks.
SENNEBOGEN employee wears protective clothing and varnishes a suspended excavator metal part made of CO₂-reduced steel in white.
Two SENNEBOGEN technicians install a large engine in a green excavator made of CO₂-reduced steel, details are clearly visible.
Heavy metal component is lifted with chains and hooks in a SENNEBOGEN industrial hall. In the background, Machines and parts of a production line are visible.
Massive excavator axle made of CO₂-reduced steel on chains in a SENNEBOGEN production hall.
SENNEBOGEN mechanics at work on an excavator part made of CO₂-reduced steel.
Large green excavator from SENNEBOGEN made of CO₂-reduced steel on an industrial site with other green machines in the background.
Three people on the premises of Deutsche Erz- und Metall-Union GmbH with a view of handling machines

80 PERCENT
CO2-REDUCED STEEL

The project “CO2-reduced material handler” picked up speed – and it quickly became clear that around 80 percent of the required steel could easily be replaced by CO2-reduced SALCOS® steel from the Salzgitter Group. “Such a high proportion of recycled steel in a machine is truly a first”, affirms Kai Sticka from DEUMU's sales team. For reasons of complexity, only a few steel assemblies such as the driver's cab had to be excluded for the time being. “We have manufactured 216 different components for the material handler, including the boom and base frame, from SALCOS® steel and delivered them to SENNEBOGEN – a total of 367 steel components have left DEUMU for Straubing.”

DEUMU is broadly positioned and can carry out all the usual steps in flat steel processing itself: cutting, forming, a wide range of surface treatments and welding seam preparation. This vertical range of manufacture was particularly important for the project, because SENNEBOGEN wanted to insert the steel plate parts directly into the welding fixtures in Straubing in order to be able to start the final steel construction immediately. The welded parts were then transported to the SENNEBOGEN plant in Wackersdorf for assembly, where the ready-to-use excavator was created in seven work steps.

OVER 70 PERCENT LESS
CO2-EMISSIONS

By using SALCOS® steel, which is produced with reduced CO2 emissions, SENNEBOGEN achieved a CO2 saving of more than 70 percent for the components supplied by DEUMU, thus significantly decarbonizing the value chain (Scope 3). Manufacturers of construction and material handling equipment can therefore make a significant contribution to achieving climate targets – without any impact on product quality or adaptation of production processes. The steel obtained in the recycling process has the same mechanical and technological properties as conventionally produced steel grades, which are required for the production of yellow goods, e.g. high strength, toughness and good weldability.

Foiling of the green material handler with the SALCOS® green steel brand logo

A sector in (sustainable) transition

Classification of greenhouse gas emissions

European manufacturers of construction, mining and agricultural machinery (yellow goods) are generally striving for greater sustainability.

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European manufacturers of construction, mining and agricultural machinery (yellow goods) are generally striving for greater sustainability. On the one hand, this is driven by legislation that requires, among other things, detailed reporting of companies' CO2 emissions, thus making their environmental impact transparent. On the other hand, they are seeking to strengthen their own market position, as the product carbon footprint (PCF) is becoming a key parameter for investment decisions in a sustainable society.

Classification of greenhouse gas emissions

The Greenhouse Gas Protocol divides the calculation of corporate greenhouse gas emissions into three categories (scopes):

Scope 1

Direct emissions from own facilities and vehicles

Scope 2

Indirect emissions from purchased energy (e.g. electricity, district heating)

Scope 3

All other indirect emissions along the supply chain, e.g. suppliers that manufacture primary products, their transportation, and the use and disposal of products

Companies that are subject to reporting in accordance with the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) must disclose their Scope 3 emissions from 2028 at the latest. In this context, the materials purchased for production play an important role: The lower the PCF, the lower the Scope 3 emissions value. In its physically CO2-reduced form, steel can make a measurable contribution to this.

Photo of Erich Sennebogen, President of SENNEBOGEN Maschinenfabrik GmbH

SUSTAINABLE MATERIAL SELECTION
REDUCES INDIRECT EMISSIONS

In the future, companies will not only have to reduce their own emissions, but also the ecological footprint along the entire value chain. This is a complex undertaking for which there are currently only a few solutions. A large proportion of the CO2 impact is generated in the supply chain – and the use of recycled steel addresses precisely this. 

The ecological footprint of recycled steel is made transparent by the issuance of CO2 certificates. The Salzgitter Group already provides a certificate for each material, stating how much CO2 was emitted during the production of the slab. Erich Sennebogen is also sure that low-CO2 steel is the material of the future for his industry.

“For us as a third-generation family business, it is not short-term return on investment that sets the pace, but long-term vision. The opportunity for decarbonization is now within reach – and we will seize it. This pioneering role suits us well. Someone has to pave the way for the next generation. We are ready to do just that.”

"I definitely see a market for construction machines produced with reduced emissions. We all have the vision of a decarbonized economy – so we have to act!"

Erich Sennebogen, President of SENNEBOGEN Maschinenfabrik GmbH

“A large proportion of CO2 pollution occurs in the supply chain – and the use of recycled steel addresses this issue. There is no easier way for manufacturers to reduce their Scope 3 emissions.”

Kai Sticka, Sales at DEUMU

Photo of Kai Sticka, Sales at DEUMU

WOULD YOU LIKE TO REALIZE YOUR
PROJECT WITH SALCOS® GREEN STEEL?

Get in touch and let us advise you on the possibilities for using
SALCOS® in your individual case.