"DRI (Direct Reduced Iron), through which iron ore can be reduced (the oxygen taken out) by heating to around 800C with hydrogen, producing sponge iron.
The idea is that this can be fed into steel furnaces instead of pig iron produced by blast furnaces using coke. (Carbon is added in the steel furnace).
... DRI is not a new invention -- a DRI plant in Hamburg, run by Arcelor, which was constructed in 1971.
World DRI output reached 108 million tonnes in 2019 ... tiny in comparison to world steel production of 1869 million tonnes.
... these existing (DRI) plants use coal or gas, instead of hydrogen.
... the fact that DRI is still a bit part player tells you all you need to know about its competitiveness.
After all, if (DRI) was such a good process, steelmakers around the world would be queuing up to install them.
Hydrogen, particularly from electrolysis, is several times the cost of natural gas, so this new “green steel” is likely to be extremely uncompetitive.
... The European steel industry has stagnated in recent decades, in the face of cheap imports.
... Meanwhile Asia will plow ahead, supplying the rest of the world with what it wants."