Finding
Hydrogen DRI works; in 2025-26 most projects switched to natural gas and called themselves hydrogen-ready
Direct reduction strips oxygen from iron ore pellets at 800-1,050 °C using a reducing gas instead of coke. With hydrogen as the gas, the byproduct is water, and ironmaking CO2 falls by about 95%; the resulting sponge iron (DRI) or briquettes (HBI) are melted in an electric arc furnace. It is the only proven route to new low-carbon steel when there is not enough scrap.
The obstacle is the hydrogen. A metric ton of DRI needs about 50-55 kg of hydrogen, roughly 2.5-3 MWh of electricity through an electrolyzer, and green hydrogen still costs several times gas-derived hydrogen. In 2025 Cleveland-Cliffs cancelled its $500 million DOE-backed hydrogen DRI project at Middletown, Ohio, and kept its blast furnace; ArcelorMittal dropped hydrogen DRI plans at two German plants. New DRI capacity is being built to run on natural gas first, as at US Steel's Big River site in Arkansas, with hydrogen as a later option.
Stegra's Boden plant in northern Sweden is the integrated exception: a 700 MW thyssenkrupp nucera electrolyzer, a Midrex shaft furnace and two arc furnaces, sized for 2.5 million tons a year and starting in 2026, although it will lean on other reducing gas until its own hydrogen is running. China runs hydrogen-rich shaft furnaces at HBIS Zhangjiakou and Baowu Zhanjiang. Texas already hosts one of the largest DRI plants in the US, the gas-based HBI plant at Portland near Corpus Christi; the state's hydrogen plans are on AustinIO's Texas green hydrogen hub page.
Projects
Hydrogen and DRI steel projects
| Project | Location | Route | Size | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stegra | Boden, Sweden | Hydrogen DRI + EAF | 2.5 Mt/yr steel; 700 MW electrolyzer | Starting 2026 |
| HYBRIT (SSAB, LKAB, Vattenfall) | Luleå and Gällivare, Sweden | Hydrogen DRI | Pilot since 2021; demonstration plant planned | Pilot |
| HBIS | Zhangjiakou, China | Hydrogen-rich shaft furnace | 1.2 Mt/yr DRI | Operating |
| Baowu | Zhanjiang, China | Hydrogen-based shaft furnace | 1 Mt/yr DRI | Operating |
| Salzgitter SALCOS | Germany | DRI + EAF | Phase 1 delayed | Under construction |
| Cleveland-Cliffs | Middletown, Ohio | Hydrogen-ready DRI | Replaced by blast furnace upgrade | Cancelled 2025 |
| US Steel | Osceola, Arkansas | Gas DRI | At Big River Steel | Announced |
| ArcelorMittal Texas HBI | Portland, Texas | Gas-based HBI | ~2 Mt/yr | Operating |
Vendors
DRI technology suppliers
Two shaft-furnace technologies, MIDREX and ENERGIRON, account for most DRI ever built; fluidized-bed hydrogen routes are at pilot scale. Active companies first, then pilots, research groups and companies that exited.
| Company | Products | HQ | Technology | Reference sites | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CISDI (China Minmetals) | Hydrogen-rich shaft furnaces | China | Gas or hydrogen shaft furnace | active | |
| Danieli | ENERGIRON plants with Tenova | Italy | Gas or hydrogen shaft furnace | active | |
| Midrex Technologies | MIDREX shaft furnaces; MIDREX H2 and Flex | US | Gas or hydrogen shaft furnace | Stegra Boden; ArcelorMittal Texas HBI, Portland | active: Kobe Steel subsidiary |
| Paul Wurth (SMS group) | DRI plants and electric smelting furnaces | Luxembourg | DRI and electric smelters | active | |
| Tenova HYL | ENERGIRON direct reduction (with Danieli) | Italy | Gas or hydrogen shaft furnace | HBIS Zhangjiakou hydrogen DRI | active |
| Metso | Circored fluidized-bed hydrogen reduction | Finland | Fluidized-bed hydrogen reduction | pilot | |
| Primetals Technologies | HYFOR fines-based hydrogen reduction | UK | Fluidized-bed hydrogen reduction | pilot |
Sources
Sources and scope
- Scope
- Hydrogen DRI for Steel
- Sources
- Stegra; Hydrogen Insight via Hydronews; Steel Orbis and GMK Center on Cleveland-Cliffs (2025-26); Fastmarkets and RMI; Midrex
- Updated
- October 2026