Project aims for cleaner fuel and fewer emissions for Sheffield steelmakers

To this end, engineers from the AMRC and Sheffield University’s Energy Institute are working with E.ON, Chesterfield Special Cylinders, Glass Futures and Sheffield Forgemasters to explore ways to generate green hydrogen at the site as a cleaner fuel source for Sheffield’s steel industry and other energy-intensive industries. 

The project is being funded by the government Department of Energy Security and Net Zero and its Net Zero Innovation Portfolio.

The initiative has been awarded an additional £1m of government funding to continue to a second phase to explore the commercial and engineering needs of generating, transporting and using hydrogen in a commercially viable manner.

If successful, the next stage will see a technical pilot project begin at E.ON’s Blackburn Meadows site, with the potential for future expansion if the project is taken forward to a fully commercial demonstration. 

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In a statement, Stuart Dawson, the AMRC’s chief engineer for hydrogen, said that enabling fuel switching from natural gas to low carbon hydrogen is critical to decarbonising high temperature industrial processes that can not be electrified. 

“By working with local industry, the University's Translational Energy Research Centre (TERC) and our Energy Institute, we are providing the combustion modelling expertise to accurately predict the thermal performance and emissions of Chesterfield Special Cylinders’ forging furnaces if they were to be switched from natural gas to hydrogen, and also the comparative performance of three new hydrogen compatible burners designs,” he said.

An earlier feasibility study which concluded in February, found that switching steel furnaces to green hydrogen could be commercially viable and sustainable over the longer term. It could maintain furnace performance and product quality for the steel manufacturers, but with carbon emissions estimated to be 41.8 per cent lower than if using natural gas. This could translate to savings of around 3,500 tonnes of CO₂ each year for the three manufacturers taking part in the initial trials.