US start-up Utility Global announced that it is conducting early engineering work at ArcelorMittal’s Juiz de Fora facility to install its H2Gen system, which utilises blast-furnace off-gas to produce hydrogen from water.

Utility is hoping to determine the technical and economic feasibility of installing the three-tonne-per-day hydrogen production system at the site in Minas Gerais.

The H2Gen system uses an electrochemical process to convert steam and gas feedstocks into hydrogen and CO2.

It is pitched as a modular, low-cost alternative to electrolysis and steam methane reforming, which does not rely on electrical or natural gas inputs. Utility says it could also simplify and reduce the cost of carbon capture and storage.

However, the system does not appear to include integrated carbon capture technology.

It also remains unclear how ArcelorMittal would plan to use the hydrogen produced by the unit.

Steel off-gas – which is composed of carbon monoxide, CO2, hydrogen, and nitrogen – is often cleaned and reused on site to fuel hot stoves, power boilers and turbines, or preheat furnaces.

ArcelorMittal, which is an investor in Utility, recently said that integrating green hydrogen and carbon capture technology into steelmaking was unlikely to be economically viable before 2030.

The statement in the steel major’s 2024 sustainability report followed its backing out of various European green hydrogen direct reduced iron projects, despite securing €3.5bn ($4.04bn) in subsidies.

The plans to deploy Utility’s technology come after the start-up completed 3,000 hours of operating testing of the H2Gen system at an unnamed steel plant in North America in 2023.

Irina Gorbounova, Head of ArcelorMittal’s XCarb Innovation Fund, said the steelmaker was “excited” by the potential of the technology.