The Frankfurt plant is set to have Metso’s Planet Positive Circored™ technology integrated, which will see the plant able to be used for the reduction of high-grade iron dines concentrate.

Once installed, the 700mm plant is expected to be able to continuously produce 150-200kg of direct reduced iron (DRI) per hour, using 100% hydrogen as the reducing agent.

Additionally, the plant is planned to have an integrated pre-heating and reduction section, with a gas cleaning and recirculation system. With electric heaters also forming part of the investment, the company says it will be an “almost” zero carbon emission plant.

H2 View understands the company hopes the pilot plant will confirm a design basis for an industrial-scale Circored plant.

“The investment enables us to pilot the reduction of low-grade iron concentrate fines in larger quantities than what we do today, and, subsequently, perform downstream fines DRI electric smelting tests for hot metal production,” said Parizat Pandey, Director of Direct Reduced Iron (DRI) at Metso Outotec.

Pandey added, “The CircoredTM processing route used in the process offers the lowest possible carbon footprint in the iron-making segment of an integrated steel plant.”

In October (2022), HYBRIT said its test results had proved that DRI using hydrogen offers ‘superior’ mechanical and aging properties compared to fossil based DR.

Read more: Hydrogen reduced DRI has ‘superior’ properties, according to HYBRIT research

Swedish-based H2 Green Steel has made moves to establish its hydrogen-based steel plant in Boden. The company has said, its DRI-based steel production process could reduce carbon dioxide emissions by around 95%, compared to traditional-iron making.

Read more: Green is the new black: An interview with H2 Green Steel

In an interview with H2 View, Carl Johan Mix, Project Manager for Business Unit Hydrogen at H2 Green Steel, explained, “In our production, green hydrogen reacts with iron ore similarly to carbon, resulting in the extraction of oxygen. But instead of creating carbon dioxide, the main biproduct is water. Besides being used as reduction medium, our green hydrogen will be used as fuel for certain heating applications.”

How the pull of green steel can make green hydrogen competitive

Following the announcement of the €2.5bn H2 Green Steel initiative that will establish the world’s first large-scale green steel producer, Jacob Ruiter, CEO of EIT InnoEnergy Benelux, discusses how changing the way the business case for green hydrogen is considered has been vital for building momentum for Europe’s green hydrogen value chain.

It is often said that it is human nature to shy away from change. Until recently, one might have said the same about decarbonising industrial processes. While developing renewable technologies to decarbonise electricity has been “relatively straightforward”, decarbonising energy intensive industries, replacing natural gas to generate heat and reimagining CO₂ intensive industries to remove or reduce carbon has not. Yet, between Europe’s goal to be climate-neutral by 2050, growing consumer interest in sustainability, and the arrival of positive returns for the green hydrogen business case, energy intensive industrial processes are primed for a shake-up.

Of course, green hydrogen is not the only solution for industrial decarbonisation, but it is a means and a strong catalyst for change. It has the benefit of sector coupling with a continuously decarbonising electricity system, and, by focusing on energy intensive or CO₂ intensive industries such as steel, cement and fertilisers first, it can make a big impact in a relatively short period. In fact, steel is responsible for eight percent of global carbon dioxide emissions[1] while cement accounts for seven percent of the share[2].

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