Steel production group Swiss Steel has revealed that it will integrate green hydrogen into its steel manufacturing process at its Ugitech plant in Ugine after signing a deal with Lhyfe, who will deploy its green hydrogen production technology at the plant.
The company aims to replace natural gas in various thermoprocessing equipment such as burners, reheating furnaces and heat treatment furnaces. By transitioning to green hydrogen, the company said that it could avoid up to 16,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions each year from the production of its 200,000 tonnes of steel.
According to the agreement, Lhyfe’s production unit will generate up to 12 tonnes of green hydrogen per day with a maximum electrolysis capacity of 30 MW (megawatts).
“The steel sector is a major consumer of fossil fuels and is one of the industrial sectors that should be decarbonised as a priority,” said Philippe Desorme, Vice CEO at Lhyfe.
“The energy transition is going to become increasingly necessary to ensure the long-term survival of our industries, and green hydrogen is emerging as one of the pillars of this transition. It can and must now be deployed as quickly as possible, including in the steel sector.”
The project is part of the HYDREAMS project, which aims to demonstrate the feasibility of replacing natural gas with decarbonised hydrogen in reheating and heat treatment furnaces.
Funded by EU grants, HYDREAMS aims at total CO2 emissions reductions of 4.5 million tonnes per year by partners by 2032.
“Using laboratory tests and industrial demonstrators, this project, which started in April 2023 and ends in October 2027, will verify that hydrogen combustion will have no negative impact on processes and products,” said Frederic Perret, Director of Development at Ugitech.
“The next step is to roll out this new solution to all systems for which direct electrification is not a compatible option.”
