Green steel on the rise – steel production without fossil fuels

As a cornerstone of the global economy, with applications spanning construction, the automotive industry, and infrastructure, the steel industry produces over 1.8 billion tons of crude steel annually.
Conventional steel production primarily utilizes the blast furnace converter process, which involves reducing iron ore with coke at very high temperatures – a process releasing significant quantities of CO₂. This method generates an average of around 1.8 tons of CO₂ per ton of crude steel. Globally, the steel industry is therefore responsible for approximately 7-9% of energy-related CO₂ emissions. These figures underscore that achieving international climate targets will be exceedingly difficult without a substantial decarbonization of steel production.
As a key industrial player, the steel industry holds a crucial role in combating climate change. Its immense emissions are closely linked to demand across nearly all sectors of the global economy.
Simultaneously, the industry presents enormous potential for emissions reduction. Switching to hydrogen-based direct reduction processes and utilizing green hydrogen can drastically lower emissions – theoretically to near zero. This makes “green steel” a pivotal element for climate-neutral value chains, from the automotive sector to mechanical engineering and construction.

Green hydrogen, produced by electrolysis using renewable energies, replaces coke, the previously used reductant in the direct reduction process (DRI). In this process, hydrogen reduces iron ore to iron, with water vapor as the only byproduct instead of CO₂. This process enables near emission-free steel production, marking a fundamental change in industrial production.
Modern DRI plants such as H2DRI are considered key solutions for decarbonization. Initial large-scale projects demonstrate its readiness for industrial use. However, its widespread adoption requires more than just innovative processes; a reliable and continuous supply of hydrogen on an industrial scale is crucial.

Transporting hydrogen is a major challenge in industrial scale-up, especially when production sites lack direct connections to pipelines or electrolysis plants. In such cases, mobile, economical, and safe supply solutions are needed that can be flexibly integrated into existing logistics and production structures.
Hexagon Purus offers specialized transport modules for this purpose: mobile high-pressure cylinder containers for transporting large quantities of compressed hydrogen (CGH₂). Based on Type IV pressure cylinders, these systems are designed in standardized ISO container formats up to 45 ft and optimized for heavy-duty transport. Their international approval allows flexible use across road, rail, or waterways – even across borders.

In addition to hydrogen storage and logistics, Hexagon Purus also offers solutions for emission-free plant transportation and internal logistics processes – an often underestimated lever for industrial CO₂ reduction. Hexagon Purus supports steel manufacturers in decarbonizing both their production and in-plant transport infrastructure with high-performance battery systems, electric drive units, and integrated control solutions. The result is a comprehensive approach: from climate-neutral energy supply and green steel production to the emission-free movement of raw materials and end products – all from a single source.