Italian steel plant launches trial to use hydrogen to cut emissions

MILAN, July 3 (Reuters) - Italian gas grid operator Snam (SRG.MI), opens new tab, steel pipe maker Tenaris (TENR.MI), opens new tab and green technology firm Tenova are trialling the use of hydrogen fuel at a Tenaris steel plant in northern Italy in a bid to cut emissions, they said on Wednesday.

According to a joint statement from the groups, the trial to use hydrogen fuel in a reheating furnace at the plant in Dalmine, near Bergamo, will last six months.

It will track the performance and reliability of using hydrogen in the steel industry, the statement said, and is part of Snam's broader move to help industrial companies decarbonise.

Hydrogen's main by-product as a fuel is water vapour, along with small amounts of nitrogen oxides, making it far less polluting than fossil fuels - assuming it does not cause further pollution via leaks.

Earlier in May, Italy, Germany and Austria signed a cooperation deal to develop a hydrogen transportation network from the southern Mediterranean to northern Europe.