Why Hydrogen Won’t Win The Zero-Carbon Steel Race - CleanTechnica

The article analyzes the economic viability of emerging low-carbon steelmaking technologies in light of slowed steel demand growth and heightened scrutiny on cost, carbon intensity, and feasibility. It highlights five key steelmaking routes, including hydrogen-based direct reduced iron (DRI) with carbon capture and storage (CCS), natural gas with CCS, and molten oxide electrolysis (MOE). The author emphasizes that realistic assumptions about electricity costs, fuel prices, and carbon policies are crucial for assessing these technologies’ prospects, using examples from Northeastern Europe and Australia to illustrate regional cost variations. A central conclusion is that hydrogen-based steelmaking is unlikely to achieve cost parity due to persistently high green hydrogen prices, which remain between $5 to $8 per kilogram in most developed countries and $3 to $4 in renewable-rich regions. This high cost stems from the inefficiencies and electricity intensity of electrolytic hydrogen production, storage, and compression. Earlier optimistic assumptions about rapidly falling hydrogen costs and free or nearly free renewable electricity have proven