H2 Green Steel will build the world’s first facility for direct reduced iron (DRI) running on 100% green hydrogen, according to a press release.
The plant will use run with systems built by Midrex Technology, a subsidiary of Japan’s Kobe Steel, the release states. It will have a yearly production of 2.1m tonnes of hot DRI and hot briquetted iron (HBI) that will feed the production of initially 2.5m tonnes of green steel in Boden in northern Sweden.
The DRI plant will be provided by a consortium comprising Midrex and Paul Wurth, an SMS group company.
Kobe Steel has made an investment in H2 Green Steel, the release states. The Japanese company has begun discussions with H2 Green Steel for the possible purchase of green HBI in the future. H2 Green Steel may have some over-capacity of HBI in the transition for the company’s production to reach full capacity.
H2 Green Steel’s purpose is to decarbonize hard-to-abate industries, starting with steel. Its process will remove up to 95 percent of carbon emissions compared to traditional steelmaking with a blast furnace. The bulk of the emission reductions will happen with Midrex’s technology when iron ore is reduced to sponge iron. The companies will also work together for optimization services in the DRI-process.
“This unique project is a ‘lighthouse’ to our industry and sets the standard for green steel. There is simply nothing like it – 100 percent hydrogen from day one to produce over 2 million tonnes of DRI with up to 95 percent reduction in CO2,” Stephen C. Montague, President and CEO of Midrex Technologies, said in the release.
