Existing glass furnaces can be run on hydrogen
Hydrogen fuels steel and glass production
Recent industrial projects demonstrate hydrogen’s feasibility as a fuel and chemical reactant, although commercial scale-up is still distant
Breakthrough projects in the first half of 2021 in Sweden and the UK to replace coal in steelmaking and natural gas in glass manufacturing with hydrogen deliver first products, highlighting hydrogen’s potential to curb emissions in hard-to-abate sectors. Three Swedish firms—steelmaker SSAB, state-owned miner LKAB and Vattenfall—set up the Hydrogen Breakthrough Ironmaking Technology (Hybrit) partnership in 2016 in an effort to replace coal with hydrogen in steelmaking. While several steel firms—including Luxembourg’s Arcelor Mittal and Germany’s Thyssenkrupp—have announced hydrogen projects to decarbonise operations or for direct use in production, SSAB claims to have delivered the first batc
Also in this section
4 February 2026
Europe’s largest electrolyser manufacturers are losing patience with policymakers as sluggish growth in the green hydrogen sector undermines their decision to expand production capacity
2 February 2026
As a fertiliser feedstock, it is indispensable, but ammonia’s potential as a carbon-free energy carrier is also making it central to global decarbonisation strategies
28 January 2026
The development of hydrogen’s distribution system must speed up if the industry is to stand any chance of grabbing a meaningful slice of the low-carbon energy market
14 January 2026
Continent’s governments must seize the green hydrogen opportunity by refining policies and ramping up the development of supply chains and infrastructure
