Hydrogen as a Clean Alternative in the Iron and Steel Industry

By Quailan Homann, Fuel Cell & Hydrogen Energy Association, 2019

Hydrogen is a clean fuel that is being increasingly used in both transportation and power
generation applications. Additionally, hydrogen is being explored as a means to decarbonize
industrial processes that have struggled to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, including chemical
production, hydrogen as a heating source, and iron and steel production. The U.S. Department
of Energy has taken note of hydrogen’s role in decarbonizing the iron and steel industry, as
shown through H2@Scale initiative presentations that introduced hydrogen uses within the
sector.

Overview

Iron and steel are critical to modern life. The strength and versatility of iron and steel have led
to their use in countless sectors, including construction, transportation, energy and more.
However, the production of these materials has significant environmental impacts. As of 2017,
the iron and steel industry produces seven to nine percent of the total global GHG emissions.
The carbon emissions are directly related to iron ore reduction, a process that produces usable
pig (crude) iron to be turned into crude steel.

Traditional iron ore reduction utilizes a chemical reaction between iron oxide and carbon
monoxide sourced from heating coke fuel in a blast furnace. Coke is a hard, porous, nearly pure
carbon product made by heating coal in the absence of air (in coke ovens). Coke acts as both a
fuel and reducing agent in the blast furnace, forming carbon monoxide when burned, and reacts
with the iron oxide to produce molten pig iron and carbon dioxide. In 2017, every ton of steel
produced resulted in an average of 1.83 tons of carbon dioxide emissions. That same year saw
a global production of just over 1,864 million tons of steel.

New production processes are exploring the use of hydrogen gas instead of coke. Hydrogen
reacts with iron oxide in a similar fashion to carbon monoxide, but instead of producing carbon
dioxide, the only byproduct is water vapor. When hydrogen used in this process is derived from
renewable or decarbonized sources itself, the steel making process can become completely
emission-free, creating ‘green steel.’

Sweden

Three Swedish companies, steel manufacturer SSAB, mining company LKAB, and energy
company Vattenfall are exploring the use of hydrogen in steel production processes. This joint
endeavor is known as HYBRIT, short for Hydrogen Breakthrough Ironmaking Technology. To
make the process fully fossil-free, the hydrogen used will be generated from renewable
electricity. HYBRIT estimates that using decarbonized hydrogen in place of coke could reduce
Sweden’s total carbon dioxide emissions by ten percent and Finland’s by seven percent. A
HYBRIT Development AB pilot plant began construction during summer 2018 at the SSAB site in
Luleå, Sweden, with SEK 500 million ($51.88 million) in funding assistance from the Swedish
Energy Agency. The pilot phase is expected to last until 2024, followed by a demonstration phase
from 2025 to 2035. HYBRIT was awarded the Environmental Goals Prize by the Swedish
Environmental Protection Agency for “boldness and momentum”.
 HYBRIT production compared to traditional blast furnace methods. Source: HYBRIT

Germany

Multinational steel production company ArcelorMittal is taking steps to reduce its carbon
emissions by outfitting a production plant to use hydrogen for iron ore reduction. ArcelorMittal
plans to partner with the University of Freiberg to test a hydrogen procedure at its Hamburg
steel production plant. Though testing will be done with hydrogen derived from traditional
sources, the company plans to transition to decarbonized hydrogen as it becomes more widely
available. ArcelorMittal estimates a demonstration scale of around 110,000 tons of hydrogen-
based iron ore reduction. Hydrogen technology is just part of the company’s EUR 250 million
(approximately $278 million) investment into carbon dioxide avoidance.

German company thyssenkrupp Steel is also looking to decarbonize its production processes
with hydrogen. In April of 2019, the steel manufacturer received a grant from IN4climate.NRW,
a government initiative to support climate related transformations in industry, to use hydrogen
in the iron-reducing process. thyssenkrupp Steel will be supplied hydrogen gas from FCHEA
member Air Liquide. Like many companies, thyssenkrupp is decarbonizing as a commitment to
the recent Paris Climate Accords. Arnd Köfler, the Production Director, states that by using
hydrogen, they could decrease their carbon emissions by 20 percent. The company has a long-
term goal to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from production by at least 80 percent by 2050.

In November, German steel company Salzgitter Flachstahl GmbH (SZFG) awarded Siemens Gas
and Power a contract to build a 2.2-megawatt electrolysis plant to produce hydrogen for steel
production. The plant will be commissioned in the fourth quarter of 2020. This plant is expected
to meet Salzgitter’s demand by producing 400 Nm3 (normal cubic meter) of hydrogen.
Austria

Primetals Technologies Limited, the joint venture of Siemens VAI Metals Technologies and
Mitsubishi Hitachi Metals Machinery has developed technology for hydrogen reduction of iron
ore. The company is planning a pilot plant for testing to be constructed at the voestalpin steel
plant in Stahl Donawitz, Austria. It is expected to be commissioned in the second quarter of
2020. The plant comes in a modular design and has a rated capacity of 250,000 tons of steel per
year.

Computer-generated image of the hydrogen-fueled iron ore direct reduction plant. Source:
Primetals

The growth of hydrogen within steel production demonstrates the viability of the technology
outside of direct energy production. Incorporating hydrogen into industrial processes is
necessary to wide scale decarbonization and worldwide emissions reduction. As hydrogen
continues to become readily available, so will the opportunities to make industries green.