Steel is needed in developing and sustaining modern society, but steelmaking requires carbon and yields carbon dioxide emissions. Steel industry contributes by 7% of the annual CO2 emissions both in Finland and globally. Lately, research on replacing carbon by hydrogen in the iron oxide reduction process has been initiated. The new technology could decrease the CO2 emissions in steel industry drastically, even up to 5 million tonnes per year in Finland. The research project aims at deepening the understanding of hydrogen reduction of iron oxides by combining novel laboratory-scale experiments, molecular-level measurements and computational methods. The reduction is systematically studied in hydrogen-containing gas, and the resulting data is compiled in accurate kinetic models and in a single-pellet reduction model. The pellet model is finally integrated in a simulation model of a direct reduction process, which is used to assess new industrial hydrogen-based direct reduction concepts.

2023

2027