CO2-neutral hydrogen from biomass

Without fossil fuels, there can be no blast furnace process - but hydrogen could play a more important role in the future. An environmentally friendly process is being developed at TU Wien by which biomass can be used to produce a hydrogen-rich gas that can then be employed in various ways in the iron and steel industry. TU Wien and voestalpine now aim to conduct further joint research on the subject. The long-term vision is a renewable energy source, firmly anchored in the design of an integrated iron and steel works. Two gas streams: hydrogen here, carbon dioxide there - In a process developed at TU Wien, biomass is converted at high temperatures in a way that produces two separate gas streams: a hydrogen-rich producer gas and a CO2-rich waste gas. This is known as a biomass reforming process and is made possible by the use of lime in a special fluidised bed system. In an integrated steel works combining the many production and finishing steps from pig iron to the finished steel product, it would be possible to use the hydrogen-rich production gas at various production stages.