7 August 2025

U.S. clean‐hydrogen innovator Utility Global and global steel behemoth ArcelorMittal announced their collaboration on a clean hydrogen project at the Juiz de Fora plant in Minas Gerais, Brazil, it signalled more than just corporate synergy. It marked a crucial advance in deploying hydrogen technologies that promise real climate impact at scale, in one of the world’s most challenging heavy‐industry sectors.

With the project now entering Front‐End Engineering and Design (FEED), Utility and ArcelorMittal aim to bring to life the first commercial‐scale deployment of H₂Gen®—Utility’s patented reactor that produces hydrogen from blast furnace off‑gas and steam, without electricity, while concentrating carbon dioxide for low‑cost capture and storage. In effect, the technology turns steel’s own waste streams into decarbonisation tools.

“That’s the kind of clean energy innovation the world needs right now, affordable, scalable, and grid independent,” says Utility CEO Parker Meeks, in an exclusive interview with MoveTheNeedle.news, underscoring the promise—and ambition—behind the partnership.

1. Who’s Behind It?

Founded in 2017, Utility Global specializes in breakthrough decarbonisation for “hard‑to‑abate” sectors. Its H₂Gen® technology is based on a ceramic electrochemical reactor using off‑gas energy, sidestepping traditional electricity‑intensive electrolysis.

ArcelorMittal, the world’s second largest steelmaker, brings industrial scale and strategic urgency. Already investing in decarbonisation through its XCarb® Innovation Fund, which invested USD 5 million in Utility in 2024, ArcelorMittal is using its asset base—including the Juiz de Fora plant—as a testbed for climate innovation. That concept of “built‑in user, built‑in funder” amplifies the partnership’s credibility and leverage. ArcelorMittal is also a board member of the company.

“They are tremendously forward-thinking, not just in decarbonisation but also in transforming operations,” says Meeks.

2. What Is H₂Gen®?

In lay terms: H₂Gen takes waste gas from steel plants (blast furnace or basic oxygen furnace off‑gas), and low‑pressure steam, and runs them through ceramic tubes with proprietary coatings and gas‑tight electrolytes.

The magic lies in coupling two processes within one reactor:

1. Outside the tubes, carbon monoxide (CO) from the off‑gas relinquishes electrons—this is oxidation.
2. The freed electrons inside the tubes split the steam (H₂O) into hydrogen and oxygen ions.
3. Those oxygen ions exit and react with CO outside to form CO₂.
4. The net result: pure hydrogen and a stream of CO₂ above 70% concentration, ideal for capture or reuse.

This happens without external electricity, making it cost‑effective and scalable in facilities where electricity from renewables is limited or expensive. Residual steam is easily condensed to yield 99% hydrogen, while adding conventional purification delivers 99.999% (fuel‑cell grade)

“Our reactor has two main inputs: pre-treated off‑gas… and low‑pressure steam,” Meeks explains. “Steam flows through the inside of the tubes while off‑gas flows outside… Our proprietary electrolyte layer only allows two things to pass through: Electrons pulled from CO to electrolyze the steam, and Oxygen ions that oxidize CO into CO₂… producing pure hydrogen continuously.”

3. How Ready Is This Technology?

Utility’s recent 3,000‑hour demonstration at a major Canadian blast furnace (November 2023–2024) marks a turning point. The system ran integrated with the plant’s gas flow, endured real‑world variability, and even weathered unscheduled disruptions.

Measured “hot standby” performance allowed the system to go offline if off‑gas supply paused—due to maintenance or furnace outage—with only 15–30 minutes to restart. Operational stability, resilience, and low ramp‑up times were proven.

These, combined with more than 4,000 hours of earlier pilot work, bring H₂Gen® to Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 8, with ambitions to reach TRL 9 in full commercial systems.

4. Why Juiz de Fora, Brazil?

Few legacy plants offer as compelling a combination of technical opportunity, low carbon sourcing, and Brazil’s industrial momentum:

• Juiz de Fora has a blast furnace gas flare that can be tapped without disrupting operations. That’s the fuel source for H₂Gen®.
• The plant already uses biochar from eucalyptus forests—a renewable biomass product—as part of its blast fuel mix, which lowers the facility’s overall carbon footprint.
• Brazil's electricity is largely renewable (hydro, solar, wind), so incremental electricity needs are low‑carbon; but H₂Gen® doesn't depend on grid power at all.

ArcelorMittal Brazil’s own operations already feature low carbon intensity: 1.72 tonnes of CO₂ per tonne of steel, well below the group average.

As Meeks notes, “They challenged us to create a project that could advance decarbonisation while maintaining the plant’s energy balance.” Without interruption, without changing core processes, this project enters the FEED stage— and the project with Arcelor Mittal in Brazil is the first step toward scale, producing up to 3 tonnes per day. For a typical blast furnace, the scale potential is significant - over 500 tpd of hydrogen potential is possible from a blast furnace driven steel plant.

5. Economic & Environmental Impact: Why It Matters

✅ Cost Thrust:

• At scale, H₂Gen® can generate hydrogen at lower cost than most blue hydrogen (i.e. from natural gas + CCS).
• Because the CO₂ stream is already concentrated (>70%), carbon capture becomes less complex and cheaper—especially using cryogenic recovery methods.
• The footprint of H₂Gen® plants is up to 100× smaller than typical green steelmakers using renewables + electrolysers + DRI/EAF strategies.

✅ Industrial Integration:

Because H₂Gen® sits inside existing steel plants, it avoids massive capex projects; it integrates with familiar operating profiles, delivering hydrogen where it’s needed—e.g. for fuel or in blast furnace injection.

✅ Path to Decarbonisation:

Steel accounts for nearly 7% of global CO₂ emissions, dominated by coal- and coke-based blast furnace methods. Hydrogen injection, carbon capture, and biochar substitution together can reduce steel emissions substantially.

For ArcelorMittal, which set 2030 global emission targets of –25% and net‑zero by 2050, the Juiz de Fora project provides a real, near-term milestone aligned with XCarb® investment goals and real-world deployment.

6. The Road Ahead: Scaling vs. Complexity

Technical scaling is not trivial:

• Each ceramic cell acts as a standalone reactor, simplifying scaling compared to large stacked electrolysers, but uniform gas distribution and stable temperature control across cells remain delicate engineering parameters.
• Utility’s Advanced Technology Center in Denver is running computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and full-scale simulations based on real operational data to design distribution systems and optimize performance.

As Meeks reminds, monitoring hydrogen output, gas composition, and cell performance is standard operating procedure. The demonstration already shows those systems are mature enough for commercial deployment.

7. Beyond Brazil: Recruitment into Mobility, Refining, Biogas

Utility is already actively developing at least 10–20 projects across sectors and continents:

• In California and South Korea, there’s growing demand for 1–5 t/day of clean hydrogen for mobility and heavy transport uses. After incentives (e.g. California's Low‑Carbon Fuel Standard, Korea’s 50%+ capex subsidies), H₂Gen® may undercut local grey hydrogen prices in transportation.
• In refining and chemicals, where off‑gas streams and onsite hydrogen demand mirror conditions seen in steel, Utility is pursuing engagements with global majors, particularly in Europe and Asia.

So the Brazil project not only scales Utility’s technology, it’s also a template for follow‑on freelance installations across industries.

8. Implications for Brazil’s Hydrogen Ecosystem

The Juiz de Fora H₂Gen® project could create ripple effects within Brazil’s nascent hydrogen market:

• By producing low‑carbon hydrogen onsite, ArcelorMittal may partly displace natural gas or coker gas in its own operations—yet any surplus can be sold into Brazil’s emerging hydrogen network, boosting both profitability and market momentum.
• The plant’s biochar usage (carbonaceous material made from sustainable forests of eucalyptus) supports Brazil’s role in lower‑carbon steel and moves toward bridging renewable fuel supply with industrial usage.
• If successful, this FEED and execution may serve as evidence for governments and investors that economic clean hydrogen is viable from existing assets, encouraging policies to unlock more industrial hydrogen pathways in Brazilian heavy industry.

Brazil’s own national policy framework—with renewable electricity share rising quickly, and macro reform underway—may align with a larger demand expansion, including eventual exports of low‑carbon steel or hydrogen.

🌍 Decarbonizing Steel: Where Does This Fit?

When compared to green hydrogen pathways—the kind pioneered in Europe by projects like HYBRIT (Sweden) or the Hamburg DRI plant (Germany)—H₂Gen® offers a lower-risk, asset-integrated, smaller-footprint approach, not requiring large new infrastructure or gigawatts of renewable capacity.

While green hydrogen ambitions remain vital long‑term, Utility and ArcelorMittal’s approach is a practical bridge, providing meaningful reduction at an earlier stage, notably in regions where renewable grids or capex access are limited. This aligns with utility pragmatism and industrial decarbonisation urgency.

9. What Comes Next?

Utility and ArcelorMittal plan to complete FEED in the coming months, targeting a decision to proceed to construction. If approved, the project aims for operation well within the couple of years. H₂Gen®’s modularity suggests it can be ramped incrementally.

Beyond the first installation:

• Pilots in the U.S. (California) and Korea for mobility are expected to be announced later in 2025.
• Utility may announce additional FEEDs in steel, refining, or chemicals in the near-term.
• Global interest in industrial hydrogen is rising fast; the jigsaw of demand, asset access, and enabling policy is being assembled now.

🔍 Final Word

In a headline-making moment for industrial climate tech, Utility Global’s H₂Gen® reactor and ArcelorMittal’s strategic positioning come together at Juiz de Fora not as another lab experiment—but as a commercial proof point, optimized for cost, scale, and carbon capture.

The project could prove that economic, clean and small-footprint hydrogen is possible in legacy steel plants—and in doing so, justify broader adoption that may finally give a hard-to-abate industry a credible path to net‑zero.

ArcelorMittal’s engagement—notably through investment and operations—pairs risk-sharing with a commitment to execution. For Utility, the facility is both platform and milestone: a real test of whether its technology can compete with heavyweights in the hydrogen field.

If it succeeds, industrial hydrogen may finally move off the drawing board—and into global deployment.