As the European Union pushes ahead with ambitious production targets for renewable hydrogen, ArcelorMittal is tackling the unique challenges presented by transporting hydrogen through the development of new steel grades. The European Union has a target of producing 10Mt of hydrogen by 2030.
ArcelorMittal's answer is HyMatch® which offers all grades in the product family featuring fine and homogeneous microstructure and good cleanliness, resulting in low risk of hydrogen embrittlement, it is claimed.
ArcelorMittal is one of the world’s leading integrated steel and mining companies with a presence in 60 countries and primary steelmaking operations in 15 countries.
Research programmes for the use of steel in the hydrogen infrastructure are underway through ArcelorMittal Global R&D at a number of ArcelorMittal production sites, including in France (Fos-sur-Mer), Germany (Bremen) and R&D laboratories including in Belgium (Gent). Production in Fos and Bremen offers proximity to pipe manufacturers based in the Mediterranean countries and North Sea region respectively.
ArcelorMittal says it is improving the performance of its hydrogen-focused steel offer through continuous investments in internal research and development efforts, and active participation in international joint industrial projects such as DNV H2Pipes JIP, ARCOR MRC13, and EWI New H2 pipes JIP) as well as European funded projects like SafeH2pipe, HyWay, and PilgrHYm. The overall aim, says ArcelorMittal, is to ensure that its customers meet or exceed the last technical requirements for efficient and safe hydrogen infrastructure operations.
“We are proud to announce the launch of HyMatch®, which presents our customers with the family of steel grades available for use in the construction of hydrogen-ready pipelines."
Laurent Plasman, CMO Industry, ArcelorMittal Europe – Flat Products.
According to ArcelorMittal, HyMatch® steels for hydrogen transmission pipelines can be purchased alongside XCarb® steel certificates which allow customers to report an equivalent reduction in their Scope 3 emissions. The certificates represent the additional CO2 emissions reductions that ArcelorMittal has achieved from third-party audited CO2 abatement projects in its steel production plants.
Natural gas pipelines – including existing and new infrastructure - are expected to be used in the future for the transportation of hydrogen from the production facilities to the main consumption sites. ArcelorMittal HyMatch® steel fulfils the requirements of industry standards such as ASME B31.12 option B, and are being tested according to the latest industry guidelines.
“We are proud to announce the launch of HyMatch®, which presents our customers with the family of steel grades available for use in the construction of hydrogen-ready pipelines. While we have been producing line pipe steel for many decades, the new challenge the energy transition brings to pipelines is to safely transport H2 and CO2. We are therefore using our R&D and engineering expertise to develop the steel grades needed in these new applications, and are excited to be working with a number of different partners to trial our newest steel grades for the planned hydrogen pipelines”, said Laurent Plasman, CMO Industry, ArcelorMittal Europe – Flat Products.