“In 2016, together with partners and colleagues, we took the first steps toward creating something that had never existed before. A well-known method but with new results: Steel made with hydrogen-reduced iron, fossil-free steel. For the past two years, we have been able to make fossil-free steel and deliver it to selected customers. I would like to extend a big thank you to the AIST for drawing attention to our cutting-edge technology. I am grateful and proud of the award I received today. We are still only at the beginning of our fossil-free journey,” Martin Pei said.

Dr. Martin Pei receives the award with the following justification:

‘For his important role in advancing the development of Hydrogen Breakthrough Ironmaking Technology (HYBRIT), an innovative and transformative process for reducing iron ore using green hydrogen. Pei has guided the HYBRIT initiative from the laboratory to a successful pilot-scale facility and demonstrated the global steel industry a commercially viable path toward reduced carbon emissions. As steelmakers increasingly invest in DRI technology, it is clear that Pei's visionary work has helped define the future of sustainable steelmaking.’

The Tadeusz Sendzimir Memorial Medal was instituted in 1990 and is awarded to a person who, through innovation, development or application of processes and process tools, has contributed to progress in steelmaking.

For further information, please contact:
Hanna Hoikkala, press officer SSAB, [email protected], +46 736551117