H2 Green Steel has begun production at Europe’s first green steel mill in Boden, northern Sweden. By 2025, the company intends to begin producing steel using hydrogen in place of coal. Green steel will be produced by reacting hydrogen with iron ore, yielding just water vapour. H2 Green Steel will produce its own green hydrogen from a nearby river. The Lule River’s hydropower and nearby wind parks will supply the area’s renewable energy requirements for the plant’s operation and electrolysis, respectively. When compared to conventional steelmaking, the technique provides a 95 per cent reduction in emissions.
Currently, the production of steel is accountable for 7 per cent of total global greenhouse gas emissions. The steel is produced using a direct reduction reactor in the place of a blast furnace, producing sponge iron and water. H2 Green Steel evolved from Northvolt, which produces batteries to power the energy transition, as the company sought more sustainable steel to utilise in manufacturing. By 2030, H2 Green Steel anticipates that the facility will produce five million tonnes of steel. The World Steel Association estimates that 1,951 million tonnes of crude steel were produced worldwide in 2021. In addition to creating green hydrogen for its own use, the company aims to export it as a resource for heavy industries.
Hydrogen is anticipated to make up 10 per cent of the world’s energy consumption by 2050. H2 Green Steel is building the Boden factory in response to rising interest in green steel production. The company has already inked a contract with the Spanish company Iberdrola to construct a solar-powered plant on the Iberian peninsula.
