Italian steelmaker to produce and burn green hydrogen for hot-rolled steel pipes

A six-month trial is starting at the Dalmine steel mill in Bergamo, Italy, where green hydrogen will be used in a furnace to process crude steel into hot-rolled pipes. This is the first time hydrogen is being used in steel processing in Italy. The trial is a collaboration between Tenaris, a steel pipe manufacturer, Snam, a gas company, and Tenova, a metals technology firm.

During the trial, a special burner made by Tenova that can use hydrogen will be installed in the furnace at Tenaris’s Dalmine mill. The hydrogen will heat the crude steel so it can be rolled into seamless pipes, which can be sold for higher prices on international markets.

The green hydrogen will be produced on-site using an alkaline electrolyser leased from Snam, but details about its capacity and whether it will be powered by renewable energy were not disclosed. The trial aims to assess the performance and reliability of using hydrogen in the steel industry and other difficult-to-decarbonize sectors. It will also help create safety guidelines and plant management procedures.

Michele Della Briotta, president of Tenaris in Europe, said this project is about testing the feasibility of using hydrogen as a green fuel in industrial processes. It supports Tenaris’s goal to reduce its carbon footprint by 30% by 2030.

Hydrogen is seen as an important technology for reducing carbon emissions in steel production. It can replace coking coal, which is very polluting, in the process of extracting iron from iron ore. Last year, Sweden's Ovako started using a 20MW electrolyser to produce green hydrogen for industrial heat, which is also used to make hot-rolled steel products.