Kobe Steel's U.S. unit signs technology deal with Sweden's H2 Green Steel

Kobe Steel

12/10/2022 14:27

TOKYO, Oct 12 (Reuters) - Japanese steelmaker Kobe Steel
Ltd  5406.T  said on Wednesday its U.S. unit, Midrex
Technologies, has signed a contract with Swedish steel venture
H2 Green Steel to supply its technology for a direct reduced
iron (DRI) plant running on 100% hydrogen.
    H2 Green Steel plans to build a fossil fuel-free steel plant
in Sweden, including a hydrogen facility, to make green steel
that could reduce 95% of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions compared
with traditional steelmaking using a blast furnace.
    Cutting carbon emissions from steelmaking, which accounts
for about 7% to 9% of global CO2 emissions, is a key effort to
fight climate change.
    The new plant, to be provided by a consortium of Midrex and
Luxembourg-based engineering company Paul Wurth, will be the
world's first commercial DRI plant using 100% hydrogen, Kobe
Steel said, adding that production will start in 2025. 
    The Midrex's plant will have an annual production capacity
of 2.1 million tonnes of hot DRI and hot briquetted iron (HBI)
that will feed the production of initially 2.5 million tonnes of
green steel in Boden in northern Sweden, H2 Green Steel said.
    The bulk of the emission reductions will happen with
Midrex's technology when iron ore is reduced to sponge iron, it
added.
    Kobe Steel, Japan's third-biggest steelmaker, also said it
has decided to invest in H2 Green Steel and is in talks with the
Swedish company for the possible purchase of green HBI.
    Details of the investment have not been decided, a
spokesperson at Kobe Steel said.
    Another Swedish green steel venture HYBRIT started test
operations at its pilot plant for fossil-free steel in Lulea,
Sweden, in 2020, with an aim to achieve full commercial
production in 2026.
 (Reporting by Yuka Obayashi; Editing by Paul Simao)
 ((Yuka.Obayashi@thomsonreuters.com; +813-4520-1265;))