HBIS World’s first 1.2million ton hydrogen steel making pilot project has successfully made its first DRI products, in which all specifications met standards and a metal content of 94%. The new DRI could be used as premium materials to replace steel craps in electric ark steel making procedures. The first phase of the new project is formally in mass industrial production and energy application. This is also a turning point from traditional carbon steel making technology to hydrogen steel making technology in Chinese steel making history and world steel making history.   

As the first runner of green reform of steel industry, HBIS has been firmly implementing the national Carbon strategies and developing the innovation, coordinated development and following the latest hydrogen metallurgical technologies in the world. Working with the Italian Tenova group and other partners, this pilot project leads the key technologies of hydrogen steel making technologies and could enhance the upgrade in path and applicaion of Chinese steel industry to reduce its reliance on fossil energies and find new technologies and new energies.  

Instead of conventional natural gas DRI technologies, HBIS first creates and adopts coke oven gas & zero retrofit vertical furnace direct reduction technology to take full advantages of coke oven gases generated in daily production and innovatively use coke oven gas as gas base. The new project has optimized designs of high hydrogen level in vertical furnace reactor and reserves the potential for future green hydrogen applications without large scale retrofit project to directly use higher hydrogen content reduction gases and pure hydrogen industrial experiments to pave the way to 100% hydrogen vertical furnace DRI production.

HBIS also develops world’s lead CO₂ capture+CO₂ refinery technology including more than 30 green and short steel making procedures, such as Full Oxygen High Hydrogen and Low Carbon DRI Smelting Steel Making Systems and Technologies, Control Nitrogen Oriented DRI Systems and Technologies. These projects could develops applicable, replicable, zero carbon and complementary hydrogen making and hydrogen power industry development.   

Compare to similar sized traditional long process BF & Converter systems, the first phase of the project could cut the CO₂ emission by 800,000tons each year, which represents a 70% reduction, besides 30%, 70% and 80% of SO₂, NO_x and dust reduction. The plant also could capture 125kgs of CO₂ in each ton of DRI production.   

As the forerunner, practitioner and explorer of hydrogen metallurgy technology, HBIS is constantly exploring and leading hydrogen metallurgy technology, but also actively working with strong partners, to build a green mild steel iron supply chain.

In August 2022, HBIS and BMW signed a MOU of Green & Low Carbon Steel Supply, in which, start in mid 2023, BMW Shenyang Plant will gradually use HBIS low Carbon automobile steel and start in 2026, BMW Shenyang plant will use HBIS green steel in the full production of automobiles. Those green steel will be green power and electric ark oriented and could reduce the CO₂ emission by 95%.

Hydrogen is the future, and hydrogen energy will be an important development direction of HBIS. It will seek revolution innovation and breakthrough in low carbon metallurgical technologies. HBIS will lead the development and applications of comprehensive hydrogen applications in steel industry and provide HBIS Solutions in green and low carbon development of the world steel industry.