Companies like ZINQ from Gelsenkirchen, with 50 locations worldwide, consume a great deal of energy and raw materials. But ZINQ is also a prime example of how innovation can reverse this trend: The family-owned company is working full steam ahead towards a completely sustainable, circular, and climate-positive business model
Steel must be protected from corrosion – from the smallest screw to the largest steel structure. The medium-sized family business ZINQ, founded in 1889 in Gelsenkirchen, specializes in hot-dip galvanizing and coating steel. According to the company, ZINQ has grown over the decades to become Europe's largest provider of hot-dip galvanized steel surfaces. Some key figures: 50 locations in five countries, 2,000 employees, including 80 trainees, annual sales of over €300 million – and more than 650,000 tons of steel that the company coats with a protective surface each year. This requires an enormous amount of energy.
In Gelsenkirchen's city port, for example, ZINQ operates a particularly large facility. In a 17-meter-long immersion tank, structural components for steel buildings and truck trailers, among other things, are galvanized at operating temperatures exceeding 450 degrees Celsius. "We require more than 100 million kilowatt-hours of natural gas annually across all our production sites," says Lars Baumgürtel, managing partner of the ZINQ Group. On the other hand, high-quality galvanizing ensures exceptional durability of the steel. In the interest of sustainability, the company must and intends to continually transform itself: less energy, alternative energy sources, even longer material lifecycles, and ideally 100% recycling – these are just a few examples.
“The circular transformation is necessary, but also offers enormous opportunities for companies in North Rhine-Westphalia.”
“As a responsible family business, we have long been seriously considering how we can produce sustainably and in a way that is fair to future generations,” explains Lars Baumgürtel. To this end, his company has set itself three ambitious goals based on the EU Green Deal: “Zero carbon, zero waste, zero pollution,”Baumgürtel summarizes. “The greatest leverage for climate protection lies in the transition to a circular economy,” the entrepreneur is convinced. Therefore, the company is doing everything it can to achieve a true circular economy, because, according to Baumgürtel, this alone can save up to 40 percent of greenhouse gas emissions. The first step was the so-called “Cradle-to-Cradle” certification from 2010 to 2013. This means using materials in such a way that they are completely recyclable, so that no waste is generated. Ninety percent of the company's revenue is now certified.
In the second step, ZINQ began decarbonizing its production and launched its first project for the use of green hydrogen in 2016 – with the prospect of one day completely replacing the natural gas required for generating process heat. In the third step, ZINQ launched two initiatives at its Gelsenkirchen site to drive the necessary transformation on a much larger scale together with industry partners. ZINQ is also committed to resource conservation. Thanks to intensive in-house research and development, the company was able to reduce the amount of zinc used by 80 percent while maintaining the same level of corrosion resistance. "microZINQ demonstrates that sustainability is possible through innovation," emphasizes Baumgürtel, proudly pointing to the company's receipt of the German Raw Materials Efficiency Award. A positive side effect: Less material usage also makes the company less vulnerable to rising raw material prices and supply bottlenecks. Ultimately, the company aims to use no primary zinc at all, but only recycled zinc from closed-loop material cycles. However, implementing such a circular business model is only possible together with the entire supply chain – from suppliers to end customers.
The home base of this long-established, medium-sized company plays a crucial role in its journey toward becoming a fully circular enterprise. ZINQ, for example, could hardly manage the not-so-simple path to replacing natural gas with green hydrogen on its own; its overall consumption is simply too small. That's why the company has been a major driving force behind the "Climate Port Gelsenkirchen" project . "We've already found over 20 partners who also want to use hydrogen for generating process heat," reports Baumgürtel. "Our combined total demand is 15,000 tons annually – that puts us on the map and ensures we're taken seriously."
Furthermore, the family business is participating in the "prosperkolleg" project, . Its mission is to research the transformation towards circular value creation in the region and, in parallel, to encourage its implementation. The Ruhr West University of Applied Sciences is leading the project. "Circular transformation is necessary, but it also offers enormous opportunities for companies in North Rhine-Westphalia," says Baumgürtel. "I am therefore delighted that so many companies and other stakeholders are seriously participating in the projects and sharing their knowledge. This moves us all forward!"
This success story of an innovative transformation was published in December 2022. No updates or reviews of the information have taken place since then.
The publication series “Transformation through Innovation” aims to illustrate how companies in North Rhine-Westphalia have been able to write successful innovation stories thanks to the framework conditions created by the state of North Rhine-Westphalia.
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