Hydrogen as a Clean Alternative in the Iron and Steel Industry
Connor Dolan
By Quailan Homann
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.
ArcelorMittal Hamburg steel production plant
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.
Dr. Andreas Pinkwart, North Rhine-Westphalia State Minister of Economic Affairs and Energy (center), hands grant statement to Premal Desai, thyssenkrupp Steel CFO (left), and Dr. Arnd Köfler, thyssenkrupp Steel CTO (right)
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.