Developed with voestalpine, Rio Tinto, and Mitsubishi Corporation, the Hy4Smelt plant will use Primetals’ Hyfor hydrogen-based fine-ore reduction process and Smelter technology.

Specifically, the plant will combine the Hyfor unit with an electric smelter that melts the resulting direct reduced iron (DRI) into hot metal and pig iron, while producing a slag suitable for use as a cement clinker.

Scheduled to start up at the end of 2027, the plant will have a three-tonne per hour capacity. The Hyfor plant and Smelter are expected to reach commercial availability from 2028.

“The steel industry urgently needs to transition,” explained Dr. Alexander Fleischanderl, Chief Technology Officer at Primetals.

“Coal-fired blast furnaces, which have been the backbone of ironmaking for centuries, come at a significant and growing environmental cost. This is exactly where Hyfor and Smelter come in: with these solutions, we are paving the way for a new era in ironmaking.”

H2 View understands that the plant will use certified green hydrogen produced at the existing H2Future electrolysis facility located at voestalpine’s Linz site.

Hyfor can process low- to medium-grade ores, with Rio Tinto supplying 70% of the feedstock, while co-investor Mitsubishi contributes expertise in materials supply and trading.

The Hy4Smelt plant is backed by Austria’s Transformation of Industry programme and the EU’s Clean Hydrogen Partnership.

The project builds on more than a decade of Hyfor development, including a successful pilot operation at voestalpine’s Donawitz site in 2021.

The hydrogen-based fine-ore reduction process has already produced commercial material, with voestalpine and ÖBB laying the world’s first hydrogen-based rail in Linz earlier this year using HYFOR-produced iron.