Posco orders HyREX plant from Primetals

South Korean steelmaker Posco has begun working with Primetals to design a 100% hydrogen-reduced ironmaking plant (HyRex), taking the first step towards its roadmap to carbon neutrality by 2050.

Kallanish learns from local media that Posco will begin plant design in August and demonstrate the commercial viability of hydrogen-reduced steel by 2030. If HyREX proves successful, it will gradually replace Posco’s blast furnace after optimisation, and help the steel mill become carbon neutral by 2050. The steelmaker aims to launch its 1 million tonnes/year HyRex plant in 2028 at the earliest.

HyREX (Hydrogen Reduction) is a steelmaking method that manufactures molten metal using iron ore fines and hydrogen, based on Posco’s FINEX fluidized reduction technology.

Hydrogen reduction steelmaking is an innovative technology that produces iron using hydrogen instead of fossil fuels, Posco says. When fossil fuels such as coal and natural gas react chemically with iron ore, they generate carbon dioxide, while hydrogen only generates water. Therefore, hydrogen reduction steelmaking can dramatically reduce carbon emissions in the steelmaking process.

Kallanish Asia