The technical scope of work establishes one Work Package (WP) for each of the objectives and one WP for project management and reporting as follows:

  • WP1: System integration and thermodynamic analysis of SOEC+DRI (Lead: LEAP)
  • WP2: SOEC module design and control (Lead: UCI)
  • WP3: SOEC prototype design, construction, and testing (Lead: FCE)
  • WP4: Design and characterization of pilot-scale SOEC+DRI process (Lead: FCE)
  • WP5: Techno-economic optimization of full scale SOEC+DRI layouts (Lead: HATCH)
  • WP6: Project management and reporting (Lead: UCI)
We propose two go/no-go (G/NG) decision points at 12 and 24 months after project initiation, leading to three budget periods (BP) with the following specific expected end results:

(BP1)    Predicted specific primary energy consumption < 8 GJ/ton DRI product; Predicted hydrogen production efficiency of less than 35 kWh/kg at design; Predicted oxygen production efficiency of less than 5 kWh/kg at design conditions; Measured hydrogen production efficiency of less than 35 kWh/kg at design conditions

(BP2)    Measured oxygen production efficiency of less than 5 kWh/kg at design conditions; Selection of optimal thermal management operating point completed; Complete control strategy and algorithm and drawings to build and operate the SOEC module; Fabrication complete and SOEC prototype ready for commissioning; Complete procurement and commissioning of DRI simulator; Detailed feasibility study and design for full-scale (Mton ) SOEC+DRI plant

(BP3)    Testing completed of integrated SOEC+DRI system; Measured specific primary energy consumption < 8 GJ/tDRI; Measured specific CO2 emissions < 90kg CO2/ton DRI product; Total equivalent capital cost < $200/ton pig-iron or equivalent per year; Total equivalent specific emissions (including sector coupling) < 70 kg/ton; Minimum emission reduction compared to state-of-the-art DRI > 40%.



The demonstration of the integrated concept will be performed by using a so-called "Hardware-In-the-Loop" configuration, where the SOEC prototype will be installed and connected to a virtual DRI system that will reproduce the real operation of a realistic DRI plant.