In a statement, Salzgitter said the lab, dubbed H2 SteeLab, will be based in Duisburg, Germany, where the company’s research and development unit, Salzgitter Mannesmann Forschung (SZMF), already has a site focused on pipe, tube and heavy plate. 

“The planned laboratory building is to house numerous testing facilities for investigating steel samples and hydrogen-natural gas mixtures in pressures of up to 400 bar,” said Juliane Mentz, who is responsible for SZMF’s materials technology in Duisburg. 

The company said testing with compressed hydrogen is challenging and that there are only handful of labs throughout the world that are equipped to do so. 

"Sustainability and climate protection are the greatest challenges of our time. Hydrogen and steel play very important roles in this. In order to replace coking coal and thus be able to produce steel even more sustainably and climate-friendly in the future, hydrogen is needed. Conversely, suitable steel pipes and sheets are needed to transport and store hydrogen,” said Benedikt Ritterbach, SZMF managing director.