Recycling renewable hydrogen for climate neutrality

Project Information

RecHycle

Grant agreement ID: 101058692

DOI

10.3030/101058692

EC signature date 25 May 2022

Start date 1 June 2022

End date 30 November 2027

Funded under

• Digital, Industry and Space

Total cost

€ 28 419 720,00

EU contribution

€ 6 226 743,00

Coordinated by

ARCELORMITTAL BELGIUM NV
Belgium

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - RecHycle (Recycling renewable hydrogen for climate neutrality)

Reporting period: 2023-12-01 to 2025-05-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

RecHycle's goal is to investigate the use of (green) hydrogen and recycled metallurgical gases to replace the use of coke and pulverised coal in the blast furnace. This is to be fed ultimately into the Blast Furnace and a future DRI furnace to sustainably produce green steel. The project will demonstrate a cost-efficient solution to decrease carbon emissions by initiating a new industrial symbiosis between and within the steel industry, chemical industry and renewable energy sources (e.g. wind or solar to obtain green electricity or hydrogen). The project will contribute in the shift towards a circular economy where waste products are valorised to the maximum of their potential. Furthermore, the project is to serve as a stepping stone towards further development of synergies within the industrial area, thus creating new opportunities for innovation and economic activities. Challenges to be addressed are the dynamic optimization of gas mixtures and flows, minimizing risks of hydrogen on material embrittlement, ceramic feed-inlet (Tuyeres) within the furnaces and the quality of the produced steel. RecHycle is to be executed through a consortium of 6 partners from 4 different countries including 1 industrial partner that is world leading in the steel manufacturing industry and 5 research partners specialized in hydrogen-based studies.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

A real-time software protocol was developed to connect the energy management system with dispatch tools, supported by a dashboard displaying multi-day forecasts of coke oven gas (COG) production and usage. This helps the blast furnace team anticipate flaring risks. The system is operational in the EMS testing environment.

The ceramic tuyere design was refined through modelling. Feasibility tests were done, and geometry was verified via scanning to rule out faults.

Hydrogen exposure tests on candidate materials showed no significant damage or embrittlement. A new gas charging method was used, and longer-term tests are planned once gas injection begins.

The gas hub construction continues.

External hydrogen remains too costly, and torr gas was excluded due to technical reasons. Delays in compressor supply affects the testing timeline.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The most substantial findings are expected to emerge at the end of the project, once full implementation and testing phases are completed.