Técnicas Reunidas participates in HYMET project

The HYMET project aims to study new technologies applicable in the steel industry for the revalorisation of by-products of the process itself and decarbonisation through the use of renewable raw materials, such as hydrogen.

The project is led by CELSA Group and has a total estimated budget of 5.8 million euros and has been supported by the Center for the Development of Industrial Technology (CDTI) through the MISSIONS call and has a grant of 3.9 million euros.

HYMET proposes the study and technological maturation of innovative solutions in three future vectors for decarbonisation and industrial circularity, such as the valorisation of industrial waste (iron oxides scale produced in rolling mills, mainly) through an innovative reduction reactor using renewable reducing agents; the generation of green hydrogen through high-efficiency electrolysis technologies (AEM and SOEC) and, finally, the study of CO2 capture and its re-integration through Co-SOEC electrolysis technologies for the generation of synthesis gas.

Técnicas Reunidas is leading the research, design and experimental validation of the technological solution for reprocessing the by-product with gases of renewable origin (green H2 or synthesis gas). It consists of a scale reduction reactor with a processing capacity of 500 ton/year continuously to obtain high-quality metallic iron and reuse it as raw material in the steel production process.

For the production of these renewable gases and their incorporation into the proposed technological solution, Técnicas Reunidas is participating in the study, design and manufacture of the balance of plant for the high efficiency (>60%) electrolysis system based on high-temperature SOEC technology. It will integrate the stack designed and manufactured by AMES and will be validated in a 5 kW (35 Nm3/day) electrolysis system and a 3 kW (20 Nm3/day) co-electrolysis system.

This initiative has been promoted by a group of leading companies in each of the technologies under study: the CELSA Group, TÉCNICAS REUNIDAS S.A., AMES PM TECH CENTER SAU, ARIEMA Energía y Medioambiente, S.L. and AE S.A.

In order to reinforce the greatest possibilities of success in the development, HYMET counts with the participation of important technological centers, leaders in the sectors object of the project, such as the Institut de Recerca en Energia de Catalunya (IREC), several centers attached to the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) such as the Instituto de Tecnología Química (ITQ), the Instituto de Cerámica y Vidrio (ICV) and the Laboratorio de Investigación en Fluidodinámica y Tecnologías de la Combustión (LIFTEC), as well as the Universidad de Huelva (UHU).