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Assessment of hydrogen direct reduction for fossil-free steelmaking

Vogl, Valentin LU orcid ; Åhman, Max LU and Nilsson, Lars J LU (2018) In Journal of Cleaner Production 203. p.736-745
Abstract
Climate policy objectives require zero emissions across all sectors including steelmaking. The fundamental process changes needed for reaching this target are yet relatively unexplored. In this paper, we propose and assess a potential design for a fossil-free steelmaking process based on direct reduction of iron ore with hydrogen. We show that hydrogen direct reduction steelmaking needs 3.48 MWh of electricity per tonne of liquid steel, mainly for the electrolyser hydrogen production. If renewable electricity is used the process will have essentially zero emissions. Total production costs are in the range of 361–640 EUR per tonne of steel, and are highly sensitive to the electricity price and the amount of scrap used. Hydrogen direct... (More)
Climate policy objectives require zero emissions across all sectors including steelmaking. The fundamental process changes needed for reaching this target are yet relatively unexplored. In this paper, we propose and assess a potential design for a fossil-free steelmaking process based on direct reduction of iron ore with hydrogen. We show that hydrogen direct reduction steelmaking needs 3.48 MWh of electricity per tonne of liquid steel, mainly for the electrolyser hydrogen production. If renewable electricity is used the process will have essentially zero emissions. Total production costs are in the range of 361–640 EUR per tonne of steel, and are highly sensitive to the electricity price and the amount of scrap used. Hydrogen direct reduction becomes cost competitive with an integrated steel plant at a carbon price of 34–68 EUR per tonne CO2 and electricity costs of 40 EUR/MWh. A key feature of the process is flexibility in production and electricity demand, which allows for grid balancing through storage of hydrogen and hot-briquetted iron, or variations in the share of scrap used.
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author
; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Hydrogen economy, steel, Climate policy, Zero emissions, Flexibility, Steel Hydrogen Industry, Electrification
in
Journal of Cleaner Production
volume
203
article number
203
pages
9 pages
publisher
Elsevier
external identifiers
  • scopus:85053153119
ISSN
0959-6526
DOI
10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.08.279
project
Pathways for HDR steel making (HYBRIT RP1 -WP6)
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
47f58242-a20b-4d85-a43d-92c5904590c1
date added to LUP
2018-09-10 10:23:11
date last changed
2022-04-25 08:50:33
@article{47f58242-a20b-4d85-a43d-92c5904590c1,
  abstract     = {{Climate policy objectives require zero emissions across all sectors including steelmaking. The fundamental process changes needed for reaching this target are yet relatively unexplored. In this paper, we propose and assess a potential design for a fossil-free steelmaking process based on direct reduction of iron ore with hydrogen. We show that hydrogen direct reduction steelmaking needs 3.48 MWh of electricity per tonne of liquid steel, mainly for the electrolyser hydrogen production. If renewable electricity is used the process will have essentially zero emissions. Total production costs are in the range of 361–640 EUR per tonne of steel, and are highly sensitive to the electricity price and the amount of scrap used. Hydrogen direct reduction becomes cost competitive with an integrated steel plant at a carbon price of 34–68 EUR per tonne CO2 and electricity costs of 40 EUR/MWh. A key feature of the process is flexibility in production and electricity demand, which allows for grid balancing through storage of hydrogen and hot-briquetted iron, or variations in the share of scrap used.<br/>}},
  author       = {{Vogl, Valentin and Åhman, Max and Nilsson, Lars J}},
  issn         = {{0959-6526}},
  keywords     = {{Hydrogen economy; steel; Climate policy; Zero emissions; Flexibility; Steel Hydrogen Industry; Electrification}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{08}},
  pages        = {{736--745}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{Journal of Cleaner Production}},
  title        = {{Assessment of hydrogen direct reduction for fossil-free steelmaking}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.08.279}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.08.279}},
  volume       = {{203}},
  year         = {{2018}},
}