Steelmaking with hydrogen faces supply problem – Ieefa
Scarce high-grade iron ore supply is a potential barrier to the widespread use of green hydro-gen in the decarbonisation of steelmaking
The availability of high-grade iron ore is a potential barrier to the uptake of hydrogen in steelmaking, according to a new study from the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (Ieefa). There are two main production processes for making steel from iron ore. The most widespread is the integrated blast furnace and basic oxygen furnace process (BF-BOF), in which iron oxide is reduced to iron inside the blast furnace with coke (derived from coking coal) as a reducing agent. The product of this process is then turned into steel in an oxygen furnace. This method was responsible for 73pc of global steel production in 2020. A second method is to directly reduce iron without melting a

Also in this section
18 June 2025
The country’s green hydrogen sector can gain traction even as the global trade war rages and other headwinds hamper the sector, Mohsen al-Hadhrami, undersecretary of energy and minerals, tells Hydrogen Economist
18 June 2025
UK risks losing out on in race to secure hydrogen imports as its refusal to back ammonia cracking sinks $2.7b Immingham project
11 June 2025
China emerges as clear frontrunner as US growth stalls and Europe burdens its industry with labyrinthine regulations
30 May 2025
Pressure is growing on developers to prove the bankability of their projects in a challenging market for green hydrogen