<article><p class="lead">Japanese steel mill Kobe Steel (Kobelco) has partnered with Luxembourg-based engineering firm Paul Wurth to develop a green steel production facility for German steel producer Thyssenkrupp, expecting to start commercial operations by 2026. </p><p>Kobelco and its wholly-owned subsidiary Midrex Technologies announced on 14 March that it has partnered with Paul Wurth to engineer, supply and construct a hydrogen-run direct reduced iron (DRI) plant for Germany's Thyssenkrup Steel in Duisburg, Germany. The facility is expected to produce 2.5mn t/yr of steel. </p><p>The plant will initially use reformed natural gas — which contains 50pc or more hydrogen — but plans to use 100pc hydrogen once sufficient amounts of it are available. The facility "provides the flexibility to operate on different ratios of natural gas and hydrogen," Kobelco said. </p><p>Kobelco did not provide further details on the type and volumes of hydrogen that would be used.</p><p>The hydrogen-run DRI plant is expected to reduce more than 3.5mn t/yr of CO2 emissions compared with conventional blast furnace operations at Thyssenkrupp, it added.</p><p>Thyssenkrupp has been investing in <a href="https://direct.argusmedia.com/newsandanalysis/article/2369494">green steel plants</a>, with the intention of replacing its coal-fired blast furnaces with a hydrogen-powered direct reduction plant. Kobelco <a href="https://direct.argusmedia.com/newsandanalysis/article/2380080">has also previously supplied a green hydrogen-run DRI plant</a> to Swedish ironmaker H2 Green Steel in October 2022.</p><p class="bylines">By Yusuke Maekawa</p></article>
