Voestalpine

Voestalpine Stahl GmbH is part of voestalpine AG, a globally leading steel and technology group with a unique combination of materials and processing expertise. At the site Linz voestalpine Stahl runs a fully-integrated steel mill. The product portfolio comprises the whole range of high-quality steel strip, hot rolled and cold rolled, hot-dip and electrolytically galvanized, and organically coated. voestalpine Stahl GmbH is leading supplier of the European automotive, domestic appliance and construction industries, as well as the steel construction and engineering businesses. 

Our role in the project

Voestalpine and VERBUND plan to upgrade the 6MW PEM electrolyser system at voestalpine Linz with a purification and drying unit to produce high-quality hydrogen. Renewable hydrogen from the PEM electrolysis contains some residual oxygen. The water vapor content after cooling to approx. 10°C is about 1% by volume. The residual oxygen and the moisture in the hydrogen product stream should be reduced to a level of <1 ppm with the purification and drying unit to produce hydrogen 5.0 (99.999%) for e.g., fuel cell applications. Pilot tests will be carried out as part of this project, analyzing the effect of operating conditions on the purity of the hydrogen produced. 

Our impact within our region

The H2FUTURE hydrogen project was funded by the PPP Fuel Cells Hydrogen Joint undertaking (now Clean Hydrogen Partnership). As part of this project (2017-2021), the production of green hydrogen on an industrial scale was tested. In addition to production of green hydrogen, the electrolysis plant provides grid services by participating in the balancing energy market. Since the H2FUTURE project ended, the plant as biggest hydrogen electrolyser of Austria has continued to be operated together with VERBUND. The subsequent investment in a system for compressing and purification of hydrogen enables the supply of R&D pilot plants in steel production as well as other demanding applications with green hydrogen.