Heavy industries like steel, cement, and fertilizers underpin modern infrastructure and agriculture and contribute nearly 40% of carbon dioxide emissions globally. With countries all over the world targeting carbon neutrality by mid-century, decarbonization is an emerging frontier and is urgently needed in heavy industry. The majority of efficient, productive, processing methods in heavy industry depend on small amounts of fossil fuels, making Clean, sustainable production methods, difficult and urgent.
Introducing hydrogen, as either an energy carrier or fuel source, can be integrated into various sectors to create a clean, transformative energy source used to decarbonize industrial processes. The use of hydrogen as a decarbonization technology is emerging as a potentially disruptive technology for substantially reducing emissions without compromising production quality or efficiency. Unlike traditional fuels, which produce carbon emissions upon burning, burning hydrogen produces only water vapor, making it an obvious candidate to contribute to decarbonizing heavy industry.
The enthusiasm in industry for hydrogen possibilities itself demonstrates the extreme potential of this means for decarbonization of heavy industry, along with a larger movement in sustainable manufacturing, as industries face more stringent environmental regulation while growing their enterprises.
Why Hydrogen Is Key to Industrial Decarbonization
Hydrogen presents unique advantages relative to other decarbonization options, such as carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) or electrification. Carbon capture technologies capture emissions at the facility enforcing emissions restrictions after emissions occur, while hydrogen replaces carbon-intensive fuels entirely, eliminating those emissions from the source. Electrification may work for some processes, but hydrogen-based industrial processes can reach operating temperatures in high-temperature applications.
The significance of hydrogen extends beyond simply reducing emissions; it is also a source of energy and chemical feedstock, both of which are crucial for industries that require high heat or specific chemical reactions. Green hydrogen produced for industry, hydrogen produced by electrolysis using renewable energy, ensures the complete carbon-free value chain from production to the point of use. In terms of environmental impact, the case is clear: decarbonizing coal and natural gas by employing hydrogen could result in millions of tons of CO2 not being emitted each year. From an economic perspective, while the upfront costs of hydrogen technology remain high, the industry is undergoing rapid growth and becoming more affordable due to economies of scale and technology development. Countries such as Germany, Japan, and South Korea have or are committed to investing many billions in hydrogen infrastructure because they believe, in the future, hydrogen would create a sustainable ecosystem for industry. A carbon-free steel and cement industry is no longer a distant vision, but a reality that can be achieved in the next twenty years.
Hydrogen in Steel Production
The steel industry ranks as one of the largest industrial sources of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, claiming responsibility for about 7 to 9% of total global CO2 emissions. Steel production by steelmakers traditionally involves the use of blast furnaces to reduce iron ore to molten iron using coking coal. This chemical reaction requires the use of carbon dioxide and produces large quantities of additional carbon dioxide as a product of the chemical reaction.
Hydrogen steelmaking is a distinctly different approach to obtaining iron using the direct reduction of iron (DRI) process, in which hydrogen generally replaces carbon monoxide and is used to convert iron ores into metallic iron at lower temperatures than traditional approaches. The last step of the chemical reaction produces water vapor instead of carbon dioxide, significantly altering the environmental impact of steelmaking operations.
Since 2020, the Swedish steel manufacturer SSAB has undertaken a novel project called HYBRIT that has created the first ever hydrogen-based fossil-free steel. Like several other hydrogen projects globally, SSAB hopes to convince investors to commercialize the technology by 2026. In related efforts, ArcelorMittal also is developing hydrogen DRI projects in Europe, while Thyssenkrupp is looking at retrofitting an existing blast furnace system to make use of hydrogen-rich gases.
Decarbonizing the Cement Industry with Hydrogen
Cement production is responsible for roughly 8% of global CO2 emissions, making it one of the most carbon-intensive manufacturing processes. The carbon footprint stems from two primary sources: the combustion of fossil fuels to heat kilns to temperatures reaching 1800-2000°C, and the chemical decomposition of limestone (calcination), which releases CO2 inherently.
Decarbonizing cement industry operations requires addressing both emission sources simultaneously. While calcination emissions demand carbon capture technologies, fuel-related emissions can be tackled through sustainable cement manufacturing practices that incorporate hydrogen.
Innovations in this space are focusing on using hydrogen as a kiln fuel to replace coal, oil, and natural gas. Hydrogen can achieve the extremely high temperatures required for clinker production while generating only water as a byproduct. Companies like Cemex and Heidelberg Cement are conducting pilot projects to test hydrogen burners in cement kilns, exploring optimal fuel blending ratios and combustion efficiency.
The importance of hydrogen as an energy carrier for hard-to-decarbonise heavy industry is most apparent in the case of cement production, where heat is the dominant energy input. Cement manufacturers can reduce direct emissions from their production process by 30-35% in total by replacing either the fossil fuel they are using or through a mixture of fossil fuel and hydrogen (depending on the concentration of hydrogen and mode of production).
Challenges associated with the use of hydrogen include retrofitting or replacing frit kilns to accommodate the different flame characteristics and combustion profile of hydrogen, consistent heat transfer, and then flowing more volumetric flow than natural gas.
Hydrogen in Fertilizer Production
The relationship between fertilizer production and hydrogen is sometimes called “The Hydrogen-Fertilizer Nexus”. This relationship exists because ammonia, the building block of most nitrogen-based fertilizers, is produced from hydrogen and nitrogen. Today, around 70% of hydrogen produced in the world is in the form of ammonia, so fertilizers are one of the largest industrial consumers of hydrogen.
The traditional method for producing ammonia is called the Haber-Bosch process, which derives hydrogen from natural gas using steam methane reforming (SMR). For every ton of ammonia produced, about 1.9-2.6 tons of CO2 are generated, contributing to the agricultural carbon footprint of ammonia production. The global ammonia production leads to more than 450 million tons of CO2 emissions every year.
The use of hydrogen for the synthesizing of fertilizers is transitioning toward green hydrogen from renewable energy sources. Fertilizer producers can develop ammonia through water electrolysis, which is powered by solar, wind, or hydroelectric energy. This transition to electrolysis of water would provide for near-zero carbon emissions. This transition creates the same chemical processes, with the same quality of ammonia products with significant CO2 reductions.
Moving to low-carbon processes holds advantages other than reducing CO2 emissions. Green ammonia facilities can be located alongside renewable energy sources, which reduces transportation costs and provides energy security for the jurisdiction. Countries can utilize existing renewable resources (i.e., wind or solar), that do not possess a natural gas supply, to develop a domestic fertilizer industry which enhances food security and sovereignty to agriculture.
Companies such as Yara International and CF Industries are advancing green ammonia projects globally. Yara’s project based out of a site in Norway is projected to produce 500,000 tons of green ammonia annually by 2026 and several projects in Australia are taking advantage of solar energy and implementing a green ammonia production project aimed towards export. These developments highlight that industrial applications of hydrogen in fertilizers are economically feasible and can be realized at a larger scale.
For more information on how we’re helping industries transition to clean energy, check out our Independent Power Producer services.
How KP Group Enables Industrial Hydrogen Transition
KP Group has a deep understanding of how to help heavy industries radically change and switch to a hydrogen, powered, green carbon, free future. By using its know-how in energy, chemicals and industrial infrastructure, KP Group can provide a range of solutions for steel, cement and fertilizer companies to help them reduce the carbon footprint of their operations.
- Industrial-Scale Hydrogen Solutions: KP Group creates hydrogen generation plants that run on renewable energy to make green hydrogen, thus providing heavy industries with the opportunity to completely get rid of fossil fuels in their high temperature processes and chemical feedstocks.
- Process Integration Expertise: The group collaborates with industrial partners to initially test and then introduce hydrogen in their existing operations, thus offering an easy way for these companies to cut carbon emissions by 30-40% from their fuel intensive processes such as cement kilns and direct, reduction iron furnaces.
- Infrastructure & Logistics: KP Group establishes storage, transportation, and distribution systems for hydrogen, thus making a network of local hydrogen hubs that industrial clusters can rely on for their supply and with the additional advantage of lowering the barriers for taking the first step.
- Policy and Investment Support: KP Group facilitates its partners to be in the right position to benefit from government incentives, regulatory frameworks, and sustainability standards so that they can make a genuine difference environmentally and achieve profitability at the same time.
KPI Green Hydrogen & Ammonia – Strategic positioning
KPI Green Hydrogen & Ammonia is a mainly recognised KP Group division that initiates decarbonization in chemicals and fertilizers. It bases its work on delivering scalable, low, carbon solutions across the entire hydrogen value chain:
- Green Ammonia Production: Through the conversion of renewable hydrogen to ammonia, KPI not only assists fertilizer manufacturers to cut down their carbon emissions but at the same time provides them with an opportunity to derive energy storage and export from the same.
- Energy Security & Domestic Supply: Locating green ammonia and hydrogen production facilities next to renewable energy resources, the division provides the local industries with energy security which is one of the means of lessening the dependence on fossil fuel imports.
- Global Partnerships & Scaling: KPI Green Hydrogen & Ammonia is in continuous engagement with the leading industrial players on a global scale, through which it advances pilot projects and commercial, scale plants that demonstrate both technical feasibility and economic viability.
- Sustainable Industrial Growth: By means of strategic investments and technological innovation, KPI not only paves the way for industries to prosper in a decarbonized economy but also builds a model for hydrogen adoption that is scalable and replicable.
Broader Industrial Hydrogen Applications
Hydrogen fuel used in chemicals also extends to methanol production, petroleum refining, and chemicals that need hydrogen feedstock to produce. Each year, the chemical sector is responsible for consuming an estimated 55 million tons of hydrogen, which has significant potential for decarbonization.
Sectoring into heavy industry, hydrogen is being considered for glass making, ceramics, and metals processing that require high-temperature heat – hydrogen is efficient at providing high-temperature heat. The flexibility of hydrogen-based industrial processes allows manufacturers to incorporate their technology into various production processes while remaining flexible.
Government incentives and policies are pushing energy sectors to adopt hydrogen related processes. Europe has its Hydrogen Strategy, stating that the EU will install 100 gigawatts of electrolyzer capacity by 2030. In the U.S., the Inflation Reduction Act includes incentives and tax credits for clean hydrogen production. These conditions are likely to favor hydrogen and their related technologies in the energy transition.
Countries will also develop hydrogen hubs or corridors to develop integrated production, transportation, and consumption eco-systems. These approaches will lower infrastructure costs by sharing, creating a regional hydrogen market/s for industries to share and see mutual benefits simultaneously.
Challenges and Future Outlook
While hydrogen has potential, a number of technical, economic, and infrastructural hurdles remain to deployment. The production costs for green hydrogen for industry will be 2-3 times higher than produced with fossil fuels, although these gaps are closing quickly. Crowd ramping up electrolyzer manufacturing and ensuring that the renewable capacity is sufficient must happen prior to most widespread adoption.
Concerns about growth focus on the highly extensive amount of hydrogen needed to decarbonize heavy industry. Current global installations of electrolyzer capacity for hydrogen production would require electrolyzer capacity amounts that are above current global installation rates, which would need to accelerate manufacturing and supply chain rate significantly.
Storage and transportation systems offer unique challenges, due to the low volumetric energy density for hydrogen, and the tendency to embolden some materials. Solutions for storage, transportation and infrastructure include compressed gas storage, liquefaction, ammonia carriers and better combined cycles with metal hydride systems for partial hydrogen suppliers.
Emerging technologies suggest hope for addressing these barriers to the development of a hydrogen economy. Solid oxide electrolyzers demonstrate a prospect for higher efficiencies and efficiency, while advanced materials improve as highlighted by ongoing research to enhance current limited hydrogen storage solutions.
Harness hydrogen now to anchor tomorrow’s sustainable economy!
Conclusion
We can absolutely say that hydrogen is essential to the decarbonization of the economy. As we have already seen, the use of hydrogen in steel production facilities could eliminate millions of tons of CO2, and fully sustainable advanced cement manufacturing is revolutionizing one of the most carbon-intensive industries in the world, with hydrogen as a molecule being a good candidate to be a cornerstone of the clean energy transition. The use of hydrogen in fertilizer production, and indeed the potential for use in many other chemical processes, demonstrates proof of both the capabilities and potential for hydrogen to be versatile and scalable in many applications.
Clearly, companies that move forward with hydrogen technologies today will be the anchor of tomorrow’s sustainable economy. Policymakers will need to maintain the support of the economy through incentives for hydrogen facilities to be built out, along with substantiation of investment in necessary and broader infrastructure and research and grant opportunities. Companies need to be poised to pilot, invest, and scale hydrogen solutions NOW! While we all can agree the size of the decarbonization problem is massive, we are afforded an opportunity with hydrogen, we should all be able to see where we need to go, and how we will get there.
Frequently Asked Questions:
The term hydrogen in decarbonization refers to the use of hydrogen as a low carbon energy or feedstock to replace fossil fuels for energy in industrial processes. When it is produced from renewable resources (green hydrogen), it allows the industry to decarbonize emissions from not only energy use but also from chemical reactions. This is especially important in sectors such as steel, cement, and chemicals where traditional electrification is challenging or impossible.
Hydrogen steelmaking utilizes the direct reduction of iron (DRI) process, wherein the reducing agent is hydrogen rather than carbon. Hydrogen will chemically react with iron ore in mid-to-high temperature conditions to remove the oxygen from the ore, producing metallic iron and water vapor. The resulting metallic iron can be melted in electric arc furnaces to manufacture steel, all without the carbon emissions of the traditional process using blast furnaces and coking coal.
Absolutely - hydrogen can considerably reduce emissions during cement production by acting as a replacement for fossil fuels in kilns. Hydrogen won’t eliminate calcination emissions from limestone decomposing, but can reduce fuel-related emissions by 30-40%. When added to carbon capture and storage technologies for process emissions, cement facilities can achieve near-zero carbon operations.
Hydrogen is crucial to ammonia synthesis, which is the basis of the majority of nitrogen fertilizers. As of now, hydrogen is being obtained from natural gas, using a carbon-intensive process. Green hydrogen, obtained through the electrolysis of renewable energy, can replace this conventional process to produce the fertilizer with a negligible carbon footprint and the same type and effectiveness of products.
Hydrogen is primarily used in industrial applications related to steel production (as a reducing agent), the cement industry (as kiln fuel), fertilizer and ammonia production (as chemical feedstock) and refining of petroleum, in addition to methanol production and other chemical manufacturing. In some industries, hydrogen serves as a high-temperature heat source, particularly for glass, ceramics, and the processing of metals making it fit across a number of heavy industries.
