Mitsubishi Corporation (“MC”) has agreed to participate in a demonstration project (“the Project”) for the development of a hydrogen-based fluidized bed fine ore reduction process (“HYFOR”) and electric smelting furnace (“Smelter”) as a strategic partner of Primetals Technologies (Headquarters: UK, steel machinery company), along with Rio Tinto (Headquarters: UK/Australia, mining company) and voestalpine (Headquarters: Austria, steel company).
This project entails constructing and operating an industrial-scale prototype plant for a new hydrogen-based ironmaking process at the voestalpine steelworks in Linz, Austria. Operations are scheduled to begin in mid-2027. The new ironmaking process has a projected capacity of 3 tons per hour and will produce hot metal and hot briquetted iron using the HYFOR and Smelter technologies developed by Primetals. Rio Tinto will supply 70 percent of the iron ore for the Project.
HYFOR is the world’s first direct reduction technology for iron ore fines that does not require any agglomeration steps and enables the use of a wide variety of iron ores as feedstock. Since 2021, Primetals has operated a pilot plant and has run numerous successful test campaigns. By using hydrogen derived from renewable energy, it can also significantly reduce CO2 emissions compared to existing ironmaking processes. Powered by renewable energy, the Smelter is used for melting and final reduction of direct reduced iron (“DRI”) to produce hot metal for the steelmaking plant. Funding for the investment and operation of this prototype plant has been provided by the Austrian federal government and the European Union.
DRI has low CO2 emissions in the ironmaking process and the demand for DRI is expected to increase in the medium to long term. Once HYFOR and Smelter technologies are demonstrated through the Project, they will play an important role in decarbonizing the steel industry. Through the promotion of this project, MC will continue to contribute to the realization of a decarbonized society.
Illustrative diagram of the Project of Mitsubishi Corporation
Press release https://tinyurl.com/49srajrz
