Tenaris, Edison and Snam have signed a letter of intent to launch a project aimed at decarbonizing Tenaris's seamless pipe mill in Dalmine through the introduction of green hydrogen in some production processes, the companies said in a joint statement.

This project will implement the first application of green hydrogen on an industrial scale to decarbonize Italy’s steel sector.

Tenaris, Edison and Snam will collaborate to identify and implement the most suitable solutions for the production, distribution and use of green hydrogen at the Tenaris mill, contributing their skills to invest in the best available technologies. The project looks to generate hydrogen and oxygen through an approximate 20 MW electrolyzer that will be installed at the Dalmine plant and to adapt the steelmaking process to use green hydrogen instead of natural gas.

"The 'Dalmine Zero Emissions' project is our latest initiative launched by Tenaris in Italy to improve our environmental footprint, after the investments and projects for the protection of air quality, for energy efficiency, for the reduction of raw materials consumption, for the increase of the content of recycled material in our products and for the enhancement and reuse of our by-products,” said Tenaris President of Europe and TenarisDalmine CEO Michele Della Briotta. Through the 'Dalmine Zero Emissions' project', together with qualified partners, we are starting the energy transition of the Dalmine plant, placing ourselves at the forefront of sustainability in the steel sector."

The Dalmine Zero Emissions initiative, launched by Tenaris together with Tenova and Techint Engineering & Construction, will integrate green hydrogen in steelmaking from the electric arc furnace steel and in the downstream processing of the Dalmine mill.

"Green hydrogen can represent the ideal solution to decarbonize some key industrial sectors, in particular to produce zero-emission steel in the long term,” Snam CEO Marco Alverà said. Today's agreement, which features three companies active along the entire value chain, is a first step to achieving this important goal. Thanks to its technologies and infrastructure, Snam  acts as one of the enablers of the hydrogen supply chain, to contribute to the fight against climate change and the creation of new development opportunities, in line with national and European strategies

The initiative may also include the construction of a storage site for the accumulation of high-pressure hydrogen and the use of oxygen, locally produced through electrolysis, within the melting process. The development of the project would significantly reduce CO ₂ emissions related to electric arc furnace steel.

“With this agreement, Edison launches a path to support the decarbonization of industrial sectors that are key to the national economy, thus contributing to the achievement of the energy transition objectives set at a national level in the PNIEC and at a European level in the Green Deal,” said Edison CEO Nicola Monti. “The renewable energy produced by our plants and the technological solutions available to us can concretely contribute to the development of a new and important national value chain, which in the coming decades will accompany the evolution of the economic and production system towards climate neutrality."

After the initial test, the three companies will evaluate whether to expand the collaboration to other stages of the production process therefore extending the use of hydrogen.