We have been discussing the of lack of demand for green hydrogen over on another thread. The discussion evolved to include use of hydrogen in iron and steel processing.
https://discussion.fool.com/t/replacing-nat-gas-with-hydrogen-infrastructure/108271/30
Leap shared a recent article about direct electrolysis of iron ore in a suitable electrolyte and electrodes.
Wikipedia has articles on the use of electric furnaces.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_arc_furnace
The article implies that carbon electrodes are used–
“electric arc furnace steelmaking can result in carbon dioxide emissions as low as 0.6 tons CO2 per ton of steel produced,[12] which is significantly lower than the conventional production route via blast furnaces and the basic oxygen furnace, which produces 2.9 tons CO2 per ton of steel produced.”
Direct iron reduction appears to be the most likely way to use hydrogen rather than a blast furnace.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct_reduced_iron
Iron ore is reduced directly usually using a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen from natural gas (we usually call that synthesis gas). The product is known as sponge iron. Use of green hydrogen has been discussed but it’s not clear that it is demonstrated–
Excellent graphics here: https://web.archive.org/web/20201220220736/http://www.hybritdevelopment.com/steel-making-today-and-tomorrow
The DRI is easily processed to steel in an electric furnace. This is the logical way to go. The process is commonly used in India.
They note that the porous iron produced is subject to rust when exposed to air and can be pyrophoric (burns spontaneously when exposed to air). So usually DRI is done near an electric furnace for quick conversion. Article notes that electric furnace is easy to locate near a customer. The whole process should fit together nicely where ever you have cheap hydrogen.