Iron may be used in a German initiative that is being overseen by the University of Duisburg-Essen (UDE) to safely store and transport green hydrogen.
An effort to create a concept for the industrial-scale application of an approach that involves producing green hydrogen from solar power in locations with strong solar radiation and converting iron ore to iron through a chemical reaction as result will be led by a team led by UDE professor of metallurgy Ruediger Deike. The iron will then be transferred there as briquettes or pellets, where it will be utilized as necessary to produce hydrogen and iron oxide via a reverse process.
The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research will provide money for the Me2H2 iron-steam process initiative totaling EUR 1.3 million (USD 1.33 million) over a three-year period.
Other participants in the research program, in addition to the project coordinator UDE, are the Clausthal University of Technology, the Leibniz Institute for Materials-Oriented Technologies (IWT), as well as related partners thyssenkrupp Steel Europe AG and SMS group GmbH.
