Emirates Steel Arkan (ESA), Ohmium International (Ohmium) and Khalifa University of Science and Technology announced the signing of a Strategic Collaboration on H₂ Research and Development, which was witnessed by the UAE Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology (MoIAT).

The agreement was signed at MoIAT’s pavilion in the Green Zone of COP28, which takes place until 12 December at Expo City Dubai. It was signed by Eng. Saeed Al Ghafri, CEO of Emirates Steel, Arne Ballantine, CEO and Co-Founder of Ohmium International and Dr. Steven Griffiths, Senior Vice President for Research and Development at Khalifa University. The signing was witnessed by His Excellency Omar Al Suwaidi, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology.

ESA is one of the largest publicly traded steel and building materials manufacturers in the region; Ohmium is a leading green H₂ company that designs, manufactures, and deploys advanced proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyzers. Khalifa University is an internationally recognized academic institution based in the UAE.

The collaboration, under MoIAT’s ‘Make it in the Emirates’ initiative, aims to deliver a comprehensive research and development program to help accelerate the uptake of green H₂, a clean energy source across the steel sector, ultimately enabling ESA to be among the leading manufacturers of green steel. This strategic collaboration between the private sector and academia will help to advance the low-carbon transformation of the UAE steel sector. Under the agreement, the three entities will develop cleaner production methods for steel products i.e., green steel, which can be used in sustainable construction and infrastructure projects.

The agreement is in line with the UAE National Strategy for Industry and Advanced Technology, which aims to decarbonize hard-to-abate sectors while increasing the competitiveness of national industries. The strategy supports the UAE Net Zero by 2050 strategic initiative as well as the country’s economic diversification plans.

The contribution of each organization’s unique perspective and knowledge will be instrumental in helping rapidly build the expertise to fully optimize the application of green H₂ in the production of direct reduced iron. The collaboration will also support the optimization of Ohmium’s advanced power electronics capabilities to further enhance the power quality of the power grid in a steel plant.