Mitsubishi Corporation will support the development of a three-tonne per-hour hydrogen-based ironmaking plant using Primetals Technologies technology.
At Voestalpine’s steelworks in Linz, Austria, the project partners aim to validate Primetals’ hydrogen-based fluidized bed reduction (Hyfor) and smelter technologies. They’ve said it will be the world’s first direct reduction process capable of using iron ore fines without prior pelletising.
Mining firm Rio Tinto will supply 70% of the iron ore feedstock, representing a variety of ore types to be used in the production process.
The project consortium wants the demonstration to lay the groundwork for the commercial deployment of direct reduced iron (DRI) technologies and support the growing demand for cleaner DRI.
