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If Europe is to achieve its goal of becoming climate-neutral by 2050, heavy industry, such as steel production, must undergo a radical transformation. “Considering its use of heavy, energy-intensive industrial equipment, it comes as no surprise that the steel sector is one of the world’s biggest greenhouse gas emitters,” says Robert Paulnsteiner, project manager at VERBUND Energy4Business’ Hydrogen Centre.
According to Paulnsteiner, the challenge is to find practical ways of reducing CO2 emissions – a challenge that calls for the development of completely new technologies. “As industry looks to transition away from fossil fuel-based energy and towards renewable energy, new solutions are needed to ensure a comparable level of performance,” he adds.
This is where the EU-funded H2Future project comes into play. Bringing together energy suppliers, the steel industry, technology providers and researchers, the project aims to help facilitate the decarbonisation of the steel industry. To do this, they are working to demonstrate the feasibility of using green hydrogen derived from renewable electricity to supply a steel production plant.
The proton exchange membrane electrolyser
At the heart of the project is the proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyser. “This is a promising process that is currently being researched and tested in many industrial areas,” explains Paulnsteiner. “Instead of a liquid electrolyte, a solid polymer membrane is used, meaning PEM electrolysis can utilise pure water.”
Paulnsteiner goes on to explain how the membrane serves as a physical barrier between the anode and the cathode and thus prevents the mixing of O2 and H2. “This allows very high qualities of hydrogen to be achieved with, theoretically, overall efficiency reaching values of up to 80 %.”
The H2Future project takes this concept and adapts it to the requirements of the steel mill. This was done by developing and installing a large-scale, 6-megawatt PEM-electrolysis system at voestalpine’s Linz (Austria) steel plant. Built by Siemens, one of the project’s partners, the PEM electrolyser is a highly developed facility that enables effective and sustainable hydrogen production.
“Currently, this is the largest PEM electrolyser in operation at a steel plant and one of the largest in use worldwide,” notes Paulnsteiner.
A viable means of reducing steel’s carbon footprint
During the course of the project, this PEM electrolyser underwent numerous pilot tests. “Our goal was to validate the use of electrolysis as a viable means of reducing the steel industry’s carbon footprint,” explains Paulnsteiner.
Producing up to 1 200 cubic metres of hydrogen per hour – significantly more than what comparable systems can achieve at the moment – the project is well on its way to achieving its goal.
Researchers are also exploring the system’s potential for reducing overall operational costs and for opening the door to new sources of revenue. “PEM electrolysis has good dynamic behaviour to follow, for example, the power-profile of a wind turbine without significant delay,” he notes. “The performance of this technology is expected to increase significantly, enhancing the installed capacities by at least one order of magnitude.”
Paulnsteiner goes on to explain that, due to the inherent flexibility of the electrolyser, which allows one to easily modify power consumption based on actual need, it is also possible to deliver ancillary services to the electrical grid.
With the project ongoing, the electrolyser is currently operating in a quasi-commercial phase.
A game-changing technology
Although still a work in progress, these pilots have proved the feasibility of producing high-quality green hydrogen energy for green steel production. It has also increased the efficiency of the electrolysis system, achieving a best-in-class rate of up to 83 % stack efficiency.
“We are confident that our highly developed technology will be a game changer, not only for the steel industry, but also for other energy-intensive industries too,” concludes Paulnsteiner. “That is why we are currently preparing a follow-up project that aims to make our green hydrogen available to other industrial applications.”
H2Future has been funded by the EU and the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking.