Germany-based ArcelorMittal Bremen has announced that, together with German energy company EWE AG and its subsidiary Swb AG, it has received funding of over €10 million from the state of Bremen for the companies’ joint HyBit project (Hydrogen for Bremen industrial transformation). The funding corresponds to around half of the total investment budget.
The project includes the construction of a 12 MW electrolysis plant that will use renewable energy to produce green hydrogen. The electrolysis capacity is to be gradually scaled up to up to 300 MW later. The construction of the plant is scheduled to start in 2022 and be completed in 2023, SteelOrbis understands.
In the first phase of decarbonization, ArcelorMittal intends to replace two blast furnaces in Bremen and Eisenhüttenstadt, thereby replacing the technology for the production of 3.6 million mt of steel with a process with a direct reduction system and a subsequent electric arc furnace. The complete conversion of this production to green hydrogen will result in savings of more than five million mt of carbon per year.