Japanese steelmaker Nippon Steel Corporation has announced that it has successfully produced more than 1,000 mt of direct reduced iron (DRI) using 100 percent hydrogen as the reducing agent and low-grade iron ore as the raw material at its pilot-scale shaft furnace at the Hasaki Research & Development Center.

According to the company, the tests involved more than 300 hours of continuous operation using blast furnace-grade iron ore pellets, which have a lower iron content than the high-grade pellets typically used in conventional direct reduction processes. The pilot facility, which began operations in March 2026, has a furnace height of approximately 60 meters and a production capacity of 1 mt per hour.