Japanese steel producer JFE Steel has successfully produced the country’s first direct reduced iron (DRI) prototype using green hydrogen. The trial was carried out under a project supported by Japan’s New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organisation (NEDO). 

At JFE Steel’s East Japan Works in Chiba Prefecture, a pilot facility with an hourly capacity of 15 kg produced around one tonne of DRI. The tests were conducted from June 29 to July 1 using green hydrogen generated by a 1.5 MW electrolyser in Yamanashi and delivered to the plant by road tanker.

Japan’s steel sector is the country’s largest industrial source of carbon emissions, accounting for about 14% of the national total. To address this, Nippon Steel, JFE Steel, Kobe Steel and the Japan Research and Development Center for Metals established the Hydrogen Steel Production Consortium in 2022.