Mitsubishi and Rio Tinto to participate in hydrogen‍-‍based ironmaking

Mitsubishi Corporation has announced that it will participate in a demonstration project for the development of a hydrogen-based fluidised bed fine ore reduction process (HYFOR) and electric iron smelting furnace (Smelter), along with Rio Tinto as the majority iron ore supplier along with UK steel machinery company Primetals Technologies and voestalpine in Austria.

The project entails constructing and operating an industrial-scale prototype plant for a new hydrogen-based ironmaking process at the voestalpine steelworks in Linz. Operations are scheduled to begin in mid-2027. The new ironmaking process has a projected capacity of 3 t/h and will produce hot metal and hot briquetted iron using the HYFOR and Smelter technologies developed by Primetals.

HYFOR is billed as the world’s first direct reduction technology for iron ore fines that does not require any agglomeration steps and enables the use of a wide variety of iron ores as feedstock. Since 2021, Primetals has operated a pilot plant and has run numerous successful test campaigns. By using hydrogen derived from renewable energy, it can also significantly reduce CO₂ emissions compared to existing ironmaking processes.

Powered by renewable energy, the Smelter is used for melting and final reduction of direct reduced iron (DRI) to produce hot metal for the steelmaking plant. Funding for the investment and operation of this prototype plant has been provided by the Austrian Government and the European Union.

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