Project overview

Project summary

Hydrogen enriched direct reduction (DR) is the key decarbonisation technology for integrated steelworks mentioned in pathways of all major steel producers. Natural gas driven direct reduction is established in industries mostly outside Europe but there are no experiences with high H2 enrichment above 80%.

H2 based reduction is no principal issue but endothermic and the influences on morphology, diffusion and effective kinetics are not known. Also properties and movement of particles in the reactor are not known and issues such as sticking cannot be excluded. Probably, temperature distribution and flow of solids and gas will be clearly different. No reliable prognosis is possible yet, in particular with regard to local permeability, process stability and product quality of industrial size furnaces with higher loads on the particles and larger local differences. Many activities are initiated for first industrial demonstration of H2-enriched DR but they will not close many of these knowledge gaps.

MaxH2DR aims to provide missing knowledge and data of reduction processes. A world-first test rig determines pellet properties at the conditions of industrial H2 enriched DR furnaces and a physical demonstrator shows the linked solid and gas flow in shaft furnaces. This will be combined with digitals models including the key technology DEM-CFD to provide a hybrid demonstrator able to investigate scale-up and to optimise DR furnace design and operating point.

This sound basis will be used to optimise the process integration into existing process chains. Simulation tools will be combined to a toolkits that covers impacts of product properties on downstream processes as well as impacts on gas and energy cycles. Thus, promising process chains, sustainable and flexible, will be achieved for different steps along the road to decarbonisation. The digital toolkits will support industrial demonstration and implementation and strengthen digitisation and competitiveness of the European steel industry.

Project ambition

MaxH2DR has the ambition of achieving a set of measurable and verifiable general objectives:

Create new knowledge combining several ground-breaking world-first innovations on H2-enriched DR
Exploit new knowledge and data into digital toolkits for the DR furnace and its process integration
Provide the digital basis for the planned CDA demonstrator with >80% CO2 mitigation within CSP
Support industrial implementation of DR with fast and maximum H2 enrichment
Raise the maturity of the relevant toolkits from TRL5 to TRL8.

Objectives

The innovation actions of MaxH2DR are specifically directed towards three general objectives:
(1) close the most important current knowledge gaps regarding H2-enriched DR,
(2) exploit this new knowledge to develop highly innovative digital toolkits and
(3) provide the digital basis for the planned CDA demonstrator with >80% CO2 mitigation within CSP.

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Partners

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Structure

Work Packages (WP)

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Impact

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This project has received funding from the European Union under grant agreement NUMBER — 101058429 — MaxH2DR

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