Cliffs to Trial Hydrogen Injection at Indiana Harbor
By
Metal Center News Staff on
Jul 29, 2023
Cleveland Cliffs will begin a trial of hydrogen injection at its Indiana Harbor No. 7 steelmaking facility. The effort is part of the mill's move toward decarbonization.
In May, Cliffs completed a similar program at its Middletown Works facility, becoming the first Western Hemisphere steelmaker to successfully complete a full-scale trial injecting hydrogen into all tuyeres of a blast furnace for an extended period of time. Using the existing pipeline and transportation infrastructure in place, hydrogen gas was injected into all 20 tuyeres of the blast furnace and used as a substitute for fossil fuel reductant.
We believe hydrogen will be the true game changer for the decarbonization of steel. It is simple chemistry after all and we have already proven its effectiveness," said Lourenco Goncalves, chairman, president and CEO of Cliffs.
Cliffs is looking to build hydrogen hubs at several locations in the Midwest, including near its Burns Harbor/Indiana Harbor complext in Northwest Indiana as well as Toledo, Ohio. It's part of an effort to improve the affordability of the hydrogen injection model.
"The main hurdle right now is economics. As of today, equivalent units of hydrogen gas are about 10 times more expensive than natural gas," Goncalves said. "As hydrogen becomes more and more economical, we will be able to implement it throughout our entire footprint.