16th November 2022

GrInHy2.0: Successful project completion with record green hydrogen production rates

Paul Wurth designed GrInHy2.0 hydrogen processing unit (HPU) and Sunfire’s megawatt-scale high-temperature steam electrolyzer successfully produced almost 100 tons of green hydrogen at the Salzgitter steelworks. This milestone and excellent results mark the successful completion of the EU project after two years of operation of the GrInHy2.0 plant.

The EU-funded GrInHy2.0 (“Green Industrial Hydrogen”) project, which is an important cornerstone of Salzgitter’s innovation project SALCOS® – Salzgitter Low CO₂ Steelmaking, has been started in 2019 with a subsequent plant commissioning in March 2021. Since then, the GrInHy2.0 HPU has been demonstrating stable and continuous operation. The renewable hydrogen produced has been sent directly into Salzgitter Flachstahl’s hydrogen grid; until today, approximately 100 tons of the gas have been used in annealing operations and galvanizing factories for steel finishing.

Paul Wurth contributes as consortium partner together with the electrolysis company Sunfire, Salzgitter Flachstahl, Salzgitter Mannesmann Forschung, TENOVA, and French research institute CEA. GrInHy2.0’s high-temperature electrolyzer, developed and produced by Sunfire, which is integrated with Paul Wurth designed HPU, is considered the world’s largest one currently installed in an industrial environment. The electrolyzer cell has been able to reach new efficiency standards throughout the project’s duration with a high electrical efficiency and record-high renewable production rates.

“We are very satisfied with the results of the GrInHy2.0 project. This is a decisive step for the decarbonization pathway of the steel industry”, says Ingo Both, Head of the Paul Wurth hydrogen center of excellence. “And for us as SMS group and Paul Wurth, it is an important reference for future hydrogen integration projects in existing and new steel plants.”

pictures: © Salzgitter AG