H2 Green Steel partners with Midrex and Kobe Steel

H2 Green Steel is partnering with Midrex, a world leader in direct reduction ironmaking technology for the steel industry. Midrex’s owner, Kobe Steel, is further solidifying the partnership by investing in H2 Green Steel as part of its Series B financing round.

The Midrex H2 Plant will have a yearly production of 2.1 million tonnes of hot direct reduced iron (DRI) and hot briquetted iron (HBI) that will feed the output of initially 2.5 million tonnes of green steel in Boden in northern Sweden. This first-of-a-kind DRI plant will be provided by a Midrex and Paul Wurth consortium, an SMS group company.

H2 Green Steel’s purpose is to decarbonize hard-to-abate industries, starting with steel. Its process will remove up to 95% of carbon emissions compared to traditional steelmaking with a blast furnace. The bulk of the emission reductions will happen with Midrex’s technology when iron ore is reduced to sponge iron. The companies will also work together for optimization services in the DRI process.

Midrex is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Kobe Steel. Sealing the partnership further, Kobe Steel has invested in H2 Green Steel. In addition, Kobe Steel has begun discussions with H2 Green Steel to possibly purchase green HBI in the future. H2 Green Steel may have some over-capacity of HBI in the transition for the company’s production to reach full capacity.

Maria Persson Gulda, CTO of H2 Green Steel, said, “This DRI plant will truly be first of its kind and a landmark for large-scale green steel production.”

Stephen C. Montague, President and CEO of Midrex Technologies, Inc, said, “This unique project is a ‘lighthouse’ to our industry and sets the standard for green steel. There is simply nothing like it – 100 percent hydrogen from day one to produce over 2 million tonnes of DRI with up to 95% reduction in CO2.”

Kazuto Morisaki, EVP of Kobe Steel, Ltd, said, “We are really excited to cooperate with H2 Green Steel as the strategic partners from both aspects of plant supply and equity investment, in order to jointly tackle the challenge toward the global carbon neutrality.”

Henrik Henriksson, CEO of H2 Green Steel, said,  “As a major Japanese steel maker, Kobe Steel’s investment in our venture clearly demonstrates the interest from incumbent steel companies in new ventures that will move the entire steel industry forward.”