Rina begins construction on its green steel open testing facility: Italian-based engineering research and consulting firm Rina has officially kicked-off its six-year EUR 88 mn Hydra project which aims to build a fully hydrogen-powered green steel plant to be used as an open testing facility for steel makers around the world, according to a statement. The hydrogen-fuelled pilot plant will comprise a 30 meter high direct iron ore reduction (DRI) tower — where metallic iron is produced — an electric arc furnace (EAF), and a reheating furnace that will all operate with near zero emissions for the production of all types of “green steel”. Each ton of manufactured steel produces 0.68 tonnes of CO2 emissions when using an EAF, compared to 2 tons if traditional blast furnaces were used. The open research Hydra project aims to reduce emissions to kgs of CO2 per ton of steel.

How will they do it? The DRI tower will initially run on natural gas, which will gradually be blended with hydrogen in parallel to running quality tests, until the tower can effectively run on 100% hydrogen. The tests will help identify the material and infrastructure needed for the steel industry to use hydrogen in production.

Rina is interested in the region’s potential hydrogen supply: Rina ran a study on a proposed GCC-Europe hydrogen pipeline running from Qatar to Europe via Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea in July. Based on Rina’s calculations, the pipeline could deliver green and blue hydrogen to Europe at a levelized cost of around EUR 2.7 per kg by 2030, later decreasing to EUR 2.3 per kg. Rina also signed an agreement with Acwa Power in September to explore hydrogen’s potential use for sea-borne shipping.