On December 3rd and 4th, the second HIT consortium meeting took place in Bochum. The status of the project was reviewed, confirming that it is on track and has achieved strong scientific progress. In total, eight outreach activities have been carried out, including conference talks, posters, and conference or journal publications. The next consortium meeting is scheduled for May 2026 in Naples.
On Monday, December 1st, the HIT project team visited the Me2H2 project in Duisburg. Me2H2 follows the same overall process route as HIT, but focuses on fixed-bed reactors rather than the fluidized-bed reactors used in HIT. In addition, Me2H2 uses iron pellets of centimeter size, whereas HIT employs micron-sized iron ore particles. As a result, a detailed understanding of the reduction and oxidation kinetics is more critical for the HIT project, since transport limitations are largely absent with the smaller particles.
During the visit, the teams exchanged updates on their scientific work and discussed opportunities for future collaboration.
The HIT consortium were presented recent progress on the HYDROGEN IRON TRANSPORT (HIT) project at the International Congress on Sustainable Energy and related Technologies, taking place on June 22th-26th, 2025, in Lipari (Italy).
Antonio Fabozzi will present the work, co-authored by Francesca Cerciello, Viktor Scherer, Christoph Yannakis, Sebastian Schmitt, Oguzhan Narin, and Osvalda Senneca. The presentation will focus on advancements in hydrogen-based iron ore reduction, a crucial technology for sustainable energy storage and transport.
The HIT consortium presented recent progress on the HIT project at the 2nd International Workshop on Reacting Particle-Gas Systems, taking place on June 17th-18th, 2025, in Magdeburg.
S. Schmitt from Doosan Lentjes presented the paper “Analysis of Iron Ore Reduction Using Hydrogen for Energy Storage and Transport”, co-authored by O. Narin, B. Brosch, V. Scherer, C. Yannakis, F. Cerciello, A. Fabozzi, and O. Senneca. The presentation highlighted key advancements in hydrogen-based iron ore reduction, contributing to sustainable energy storage and transport solutions.
The project meeting took place in Naples from May 26–27, hosted by Osvalda Senneca and her team at Istituto Motori – CNR. All partners (CNR, RUB, Doosan, RWE, and e-loop) were present. Initial results from the fluidized bed reactor using various iron ores were presented, including kinetic evaluations and reduction trends. Constructive discussions between academia and industry helped identify key focus areas. The evening social dinner with a stunning view of Naples and Mount Vesuvius fostered team spirit and sparked new ideas. On the second day, goals for the upcoming work packages were defined and participants visited the laboratories of STEMS and the University of Naples Federico II.
