[ case study ]
The world ’ s first electrolysis plant to produce fossil-free hydrogen for heating steel before rolling is powered by renewable electricity and built on-site at Ovako ’ s Hofors steel mill .
furnaces to oxyfuel ( a mix of liquid petroleum gas and oxygen ) in 1995 . Electrification efforts began in earnest in 2012 for its heat treatment furnaces , followed by the publication of verified climate declarations in 2018 . These measures have helped Ovako achieve an 80 % lower carbon footprint in a cradle-to-gate comparison with the global industry average .
Decarbonizing steel production relies on electrification to meet the high temperatures required for melting , hot-forming , and heat treatment . At Hofors , melt shops and heat treatment furnaces now run on fossil-free Nordic electricity , reducing emissions significantly .
The remaining challenge was the heating furnaces , which reach 1,200 ° C using fossil fuels like liquid petroleum gas ( LPG ) to heat steel to the required temperature for hot-rolling . Producing hydrogen through water electrolysis offers an indirect form of electrification for the heating furnaces , bypassing the need for fossil fuels entirely .
This is where the hydrogen plant comes in . The Hofors mill now operates a 20-MW electrolyzer , one of Europe ’ s largest , capable of producing 3,880 cubic meters of hydrogen per hour , along with oxygen . By using fossil-free hydrogen , the plant has the potential to reduce the site ’ s carbon footprint by 20,000 tons a year .
Trials showed its potential
The decision to switch to hydrogen followed a collaborative project with the gas company Linde Gas AB , where a full-scale trial demonstrated the
Hydrogen Tech World | Issue 20 | February 2025 17