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Masdar + Emsteel’s green steel plant comes online: UAE’s Masdar and Emsteel’s pilot program to produce steel using green hydrogen as a fuel is now fully operational, according to a statement. The project uses energy from green hydrogen to extract iron from iron ore – an energy-intensive step essential to steelmaking. The renewable hydrogen used in the project has been certified by Avance Labs and validated by Bureau Veritas.
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This has been in the works: Masdar partnered with Emsteel — formerly known as Emirates Steel Arkan — to develop a pilot green hydrogen plant to decarbonize the UAE’s steel sector last year. The pilot project could potentially cut carbon emissions in the steel-making process by 95%, the companies said at the time.
Emsteel has other decarbonization ventures: The company partnered with Japan’s JFE Steel and Itochu Corporation last year to conduct feasibility studies for a greener iron ore processing facility in Abu Dhabi. The plant was expected to begin production in 2H 2025. Emsteel and Finnish climate tech company Magsort also completed pilot testing on a decarbonization initiative aiming to slash 15% of the emissions from Emsteel’s Al Ain Cement Factory. Magsort can reduce 3-17% — depending on the type of furnace used — of CO2 emissions from the steel-making process.
The region has big green steel plans: Oman-based Vulcan Green Steel — a subsidiary of Jindal Shadeed — commenced construction on the country’s first green steel plant in the Duqm Special Economic Zone. In September, Saudi Arabia’s solar developer Desert Technologies signed an agreement with Indian multinational conglomerate Essar Group to supply renewable energy solutions for the latter’s planned USD 4.5 bn flat steel complex in Ras Al Khair.
