Unlocking the Potential: Blue and Green Hydrogen in Steelmaking for Carbon Reduction and Beyond

Hydrogen use in steelmaking must be blue or green to substantially reduce carbon emissions

Different methods of hydrogen production

 

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The benefits of hydrogen-based steel go beyond carbon emissions

Our calculations focus on the carbon impact of steel production, as CO₂ is the root cause of global warming. However, hydrogen-based steel production comes with important additional benefits. Substances of Very High Concern (SVHCs), which may include lead or polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PACs), nitrogen oxides (NO_X), sulfur dioxide (SO₂), particulate matter (PM₁₀), and odour are also reduced and there might be less noise involved. This leads to an improved living environment and greatly reduces the negative impact on both the environment and local communities.

 

So, it's clear that both CCS and hydrogen can both play a role in greening the hard-to-abate steel sector and stimulate progress on the pathway to net zero emissions. Hydrogen even comes with benefits that go beyond the reduction of carbon emissions. The necessary condition is that the required hydrogen is produced with few carbon emissions, with blue or ‘truly green’ hydrogen. One obvious question then remains: why hasn’t it already happened?

The answer is pretty simple: the technology of hydrogen-based steelmaking is still in its infancy. Swedish steel maker SSAB was the first company to produce hydrogen-based steel in 2018. Today, there are only a handful of small pilot projects available worldwide.

The production of hydrogen is very energy intensive, even with mature technology, and hydrogen-based steel is about twice as expensive as coal-based steel as a result.