Posted on 01 Jun 2022
British Steel has secured funding from the UK government for a feasibility study into switching from natural gas to green hydrogen as a fuel source for re-heating furnaces.
If the study is successful, British Steel will undertake an industrial-scale demonstration which could see the technology developed and rolled out across all its operations, including its main manufacturing base in Scunthorpe. It could also be adopted by other UK steelmakers, the firm tells Kallanish.
The funding was secured from the Net Zero Innovation Portfolio (NZIP), coordinated by the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS). British Steel, together with partners EDF UK, University College London and the Materials Processing Institute, is undertaking a six-month study based on operations at its Teesside Beam Mill.
The study links into the Tees Green Hydrogen project, a green hydrogen production centre to be set up by EDF Renewables UK and Hynamics in the Tees Valley that will, among other local businesses, supply British Steel (see Kallanish passim).
“As part of the feasibility study, EDF UK R&D will carry out a technoeconomic assessment of the methodology and practicality of delivery of green hydrogen for fuel switching into the steel manufacturing process, and British Steel will assess the technical implications of the fuel switch on both product and process,” says British Steel research and development head Gari Harris.
British Steel has pledged to deliver net-zero steel by 2050 and significantly reduce its CO2 intensity by 2030 and 2035. It launched its Low-Carbon Roadmap last October, which besides the use of hydrogen entails increasing the amount of scrap used in the integrated steelmaking route, using hot-briquetted iron, and assessing carbon capture and storage, and electric arc furnace steelmaking.
Source:Kallanish
