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Carbon reduction cost of hydrogen steelmaking technology in China

Author

Listed:
  • Ren, Lei
  • Shi, Hong
  • Yang, Yifang
  • Liu, Jianzhe
  • Ou, Xunmin

Abstract

Hydrogen energy is a key deep de-carbonization technology option for steel production. This study aims to provide a reference for the selection of technological routes by conducting a fair comparison with the evaluation of other deep de-carbonization technologies, such as scrap-based electric arc furnace (EAF) steelmaking, under the same research framework. This study updates the direct/indirect GHG emissions and steelmaking costs of blast furnace-basic oxygen furnace (BF-BOF), scrap-based EAF, fossil fuel-based direct reduced iron (DRI), hydrogen steelmaking, and CCS technologies in China. Using the H-DR (part) process can only achieve a 43.4 % reduction compared to BF-BOF, while the H-DR (full) process results in GHG emissions comparable to scrap-EAF. The study also discusses the unit abatement costs of hydrogen steelmaking technology compared to other emission reduction technologies. The cost of H-DR (full) is 6186 RMB/tcs, which is twice that of BF-BOF and 1.3 times that of scrap-EAF. The main conclusions are that green hydrogen steelmaking is expected to achieve near-zero emissions and can complement scrap-based EAF. The abatement costs of pure hydrogen steelmaking are relatively high, but by using partial hydrogen or by-product hydrogen, the abatement costs can be reduced to the level of scrap-based EAF.

Suggested Citation

  • Ren, Lei & Shi, Hong & Yang, Yifang & Liu, Jianzhe & Ou, Xunmin, 2025. "Carbon reduction cost of hydrogen steelmaking technology in China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 320(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:320:y:2025:i:c:s0360544225008199
    DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2025.135177
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