Solving issues in carbon-neutral iron and steel making processes with diverse input materials of varying quality (Clean Steel Partnership) (RIA)

This Horizon Europe grant opportunity, titled "Solving issues in carbon-neutral iron and steel making processes with diverse input materials of varying quality," is part of the Clean Steel Partnership. It falls under the HORIZON Research and Innovation Action (RIA) framework, and it has a single-stage application process. The call opens on May 22, 2025, with a submission deadline of September 23, 2025.

The indicative budget for this call is 28 million EUR, with an anticipated average funding of approximately 14 million EUR per project. The aim is to facilitate a rapid transition to innovative technologies and solutions for carbon-neutral iron and steel production, targeting fundamental challenges while considering the entire system, including input materials, processing methods, and final product quality.

Eligible applicants include research institutions, universities, industry players (especially SMEs), and public-private partnerships. The EU and EEA countries are the primary beneficiary scope, encouraging collaborative consortia that encompass various sectors. Projects under this call should address significant industrial issues, validate innovative approaches, and leverage multidisciplinary research to enhance carbon-neutral production methods.

Key objectives of the projects are to validate technologies for low-CO2 production, solve system-level challenges associated with diverse input materials, and maintain high standards of quality for steel products. Additionally, proposals must consider the operational reliability of low-carbon technologies and the effects of material variances on output quality.

A strong emphasis is placed on developing business cases and viable exploitation strategies for proposed solutions, with an additional requirement for skills development plans that may involve social stakeholders. Projects are encouraged to engage in clustering activities with other funded initiatives to foster collaboration and knowledge sharing.

The grant emphasizes multiple outcomes, including detailed analyses of the materials and energy balance in proposed solutions, innovations in sensor technology, and concepts for onsite hydrogen production.

Overall, this funding opportunity aims to enhance the European steel industry's transition to climate neutrality by supporting innovative research initiatives that address energy efficiency, production costs, and alternative material sourcing while complying with the Green Deal's climate objectives.

This is a Horizon Europe call, specifically HORIZON-CL4-INDUSTRY-2025-01-TWIN-TRANSITION-37, focusing on solving issues in carbon-neutral iron and steel making processes with diverse input materials of varying quality, under the Clean Steel Partnership. It is a HORIZON Research and Innovation Action (RIA) with a single-stage submission process. The call opens on 22 May 2025 and closes on 23 September 2025 at 17:00:00 Brussels time. The indicative budget for this topic is 28,000,000 EUR, with an expected contribution of around 14,000,000 EUR per grant, anticipating approximately 2 grants.

The call aims to enable a fast and reliable transition to innovative technology pathways for carbon-neutral iron and steel making. It addresses fundamental problems and boundary conditions using a system-level approach, targeting input materials, processes, and iron/steel output quality. The focus is on reducing production costs, finding alternative materials and solutions, improving process/energy efficiency, and maintaining traditional product quality.

Projects are expected to contribute to at least three of the following outcomes:
1. Validate innovative carbon-neutral iron and steel making solutions within a system-level approach, considering diverse materials with varying quality and energy needs. Address high-risk factors at macroscopic and microscopic levels through detailed characterization of physical and chemical interactions.
2. Solve system-level issues within at least two low-CO2 production routes.
3. Define solutions and provide concepts to address possible modifications or material substitutions in innovative installations for low CO2 iron and steel production.
4. Improve low-CO2 steel production reliability to target high-quality products by:
 i) Clarifying the effect of material and process variables, and overall system aspects.
 ii) Clarifying the influence of changing crude steel quality on the properties of the produced steel, with the purpose to achieve quality and extended lifespan of products.
 iii) Clarifying the impact of diverse input materials with varying quality on the residue characteristics and on its potential valorisation and use.
5. Provide an impact analysis covering the materials and energy balance of identified solutions, viability, and byproducts.

The scope emphasizes a collaborative approach between academia, industry (including SMEs), and research organizations to:
i) Understand, validate, and solve essential problems for the maturity of innovative technologies in the industrial investment panorama for future carbon-neutral iron and steel making.
ii) Accelerate a reliable transition to climate neutrality, considering the end of free ETS allowances by providing solutions optimized for different scenarios.
iii) Fulfill the Commission Recommendation 2024/774 on a Code of Practice on industry-academia co-creation for knowledge valorisation.

Proposals should address at least four of the following points:
* De-risk and extend operational windows of low CO2 iron- and steel making technologies considering system-level scenarios.
* Target the heterogeneity of available reductants and feedstock materials, their different physical states, and the mixed use of them, considering the sustainability of the process to produce them and the requirements for various grades of purity.
* Achieve high-quality steel products characterized by increased tolerances of contents of contaminants, originating from low quality raw materials. Adapt the micro-structure and control application-specific properties by acting on material preparation, processes and process technologies. Include the development of detection / measurement systems and multi-scale models as needed.
* Analyse, micro- and/or nano-characterise, and compare low-carbon production of liquid iron and/or crude steel combining the use of direct reduced iron (DRI) with varying qualities and raw materials from primary and secondary sources to push for closing material cycles.
* Couple the analysis with needs for plant design optimisation and measures to mitigate risks during operation.
* Define pre-processing needs of primary and secondary iron containing materials for iron and steelmaking targeting low environmental impact. Analyse the effects on the production process and product metallurgy.
* Consider analytical research infrastructures. Data should be supporting simulations- and modelling needs in line with FAIR (Findability, Accessibility, Interoperability and Reusability) principles. Interoperability of data sharing should be addressed.
* Consider effects of solutions indicated in the outcomes of the proposed project on specific regional or country level conditions, including cross-sectorial scenarios, such as energy availability, water use and recovery of water and other resources from the steelmaking process to use in other industrial sectors and vice versa, where applicable.
* Use tools such as life cycle assessment (LCA) or life cycle costing (LCC) to create benchmarks for progress measurement towards carbon neutrality.
* Aim at taking advantage of pilot plants in Europe to create correlations between real-world processes and laboratory-based research.

Multidisciplinary research activities should address at least one of the following:
* Introduce sensors or develop new ones, especially able to work in very high temperature environments. They may include a soft and integrated set of sensors. Use fast digital techniques for data collection, processing and analysis. Develop enhanced models with different levels of resolution and integrate Machine Learning (ML)/AI for comprehensive understanding of process mechanisms.
* Use input from finalised/ongoing research in heat recovery via heat exchange technologies that could contribute to reduction of external energy use.
* Develop concepts for on-site hydrogen production techniques at very low cost.

Proposals must include a business case and exploitation strategy for at least one process route, with justification if more than one route is involved. A strategy for skills development to target innovative solutions, associating social partners when relevant, is also required. Clustering activities with other projects funded under this topic are expected, including cross-project cooperation, consultations, joint activities, and participation in meetings and communication events. A dedicated work package for this is necessary. Projects could consider clustering activities with HORIZON-CL4-INDUSTRY-2025-01-DIGITAL-61. The integration of the gender dimension is not mandatory. This topic implements the European co-programmed Clean Steel Partnership.

Admissibility conditions, eligible countries, financial and operational capacity, exclusion criteria, evaluation and award processes, and the legal and financial setup of grants are detailed in the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes and the Online Manual. Specific conditions are described in the specific topic of the Work Programme.

Application forms, evaluation forms, model grant agreements, and additional documents such as the HE Main Work Programme, HE Programme Guide, EU Financial Regulation, and guidelines for legal entity validation are available in the Submission System and the Funding & Tenders Portal. Partner search announcements can be viewed and edited by LEARs, Account Administrators, or self-registrants.

This funding opportunity aims to foster collaborative research and innovation to accelerate the transition to carbon-neutral iron and steel making. It seeks to validate innovative solutions, address system-level issues, improve production reliability, and provide impact analyses. The call encourages proposals that de-risk technologies, target heterogeneous materials, achieve high-quality steel, analyse low-carbon production, optimize plant design, define pre-processing needs, consider analytical research infrastructures, assess regional conditions, use life cycle assessment tools, and leverage pilot plants. The goal is to support the European steel industry in achieving climate neutrality and maintaining its competitiveness in a sustainable manner.

Eligible Applicant Types: Academia, industry (including SMEs), and research organizations are explicitly mentioned as suitable applicants. The call emphasizes a collaborative approach, suggesting that consortia including these types of organizations are highly encouraged.

Funding Type: The funding type is a grant, specifically a HORIZON Research and Innovation Action (HORIZON-RIA) and HORIZON Innovation Actions (HORIZON-IA) and HORIZON Coordination and Support Actions (HORIZON-CSA) and HORIZON Programme Cofund Actions (HORIZON-COFUND). The Model Grant Agreement is a HORIZON Action Grant Budget-Based [HORIZON-AG].

Consortium Requirement: A collaborative approach is explicitly stated, indicating that a consortium is strongly preferred. The call mentions collaborative approaches between academia, industry (including SMEs), and research organizations.

Beneficiary Scope (Geographic Eligibility): The text mentions "non-EU/non-Associated Countries that are not automatically eligible for funding have made specific provisions for making funding available for their participants in Horizon Europe projects," suggesting a broad international scope with specific provisions for certain countries. Eligible countries are described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes.

Target Sector: The primary target sector is the iron and steel industry, with a focus on carbon-neutral technologies, input materials, processes, and output quality. The program also touches on related sectors such as energy, environment, and digital technologies (through clustering with HORIZON-CL4-INDUSTRY-2025-01-DIGITAL-61).

Mentioned Countries: The text refers to "non-EU/non-Associated Countries" and mentions "specific regional or country level conditions," but no specific countries are named. The geographic scope is therefore broad, encompassing EU member states, associated countries, and potentially other countries with specific funding arrangements.

Project Stage: The project stage is aimed at understanding, validating, and solving essential problems to allow maturity of innovative technologies in the industrial investment panorama for future carbon-neutral iron and steel making. This suggests a focus on development, validation, and demonstration stages, moving innovative technologies towards industrial application.

Funding Amount: The budget overview indicates a funding amount of EUR 28,000,000 for the topic HORIZON-CL4-INDUSTRY-2025-01-TWIN-TRANSITION-37, with an indicative number of 2 grants and around EUR 14,000,000 per grant. Other topics have different funding amounts and indicative numbers of grants.

Application Type: The application type is a single-stage open call, as indicated by "Open For Submission" and "Deadline model: single-stage."

Nature of Support: The beneficiaries will receive money in the form of a grant.

Application Stages: The application process is a single-stage process.

Success Rates: The success rates can be estimated based on the budget overview. For example, topic HORIZON-CL4-INDUSTRY-2025-01-TWIN-TRANSITION-37 has a budget of EUR 28,000,000 and an indicative number of 2 grants. Without knowing the expected number of proposals, it is not possible to determine the success rate.

Co-funding Requirement: The text does not explicitly mention a co-funding requirement.

This Horizon Europe call, under the INDUSTRY (HORIZON-CL4-2025-01) call, focuses on enabling a fast and reliable transition to innovative technology pathways for carbon-neutral iron and steel making. The goal is to tackle fundamental problems and boundary conditions within the iron and steel industry using a system-level approach. The projects should target input materials, processes, and iron/steel output quality, while also considering the need to reduce production costs, find alternative materials and solutions, improve process/energy efficiency, and maintain product quality. The call encourages collaboration between academia, industry (including SMEs), and research organizations to validate and solve essential problems for innovative technologies in carbon-neutral iron and steel making. Projects should aim to accelerate the transition to climate neutrality, especially with the end of free ETS allowances, and fulfill the Commission Recommendation on industry-academia co-creation for knowledge valorisation. Proposals should address at least four key points, including de-risking low-CO2 technologies, targeting heterogeneity in reductants and feedstock, achieving high-quality steel with increased contaminant tolerances, and analyzing low-carbon production methods. Multidisciplinary research activities should introduce new sensors, use heat recovery technologies, and develop concepts for on-site hydrogen production. A business case and exploitation strategy are required, along with a skills development strategy. Clustering activities and cross-project cooperation are also encouraged. The funding is provided through HORIZON Research and Innovation Actions (RIA), HORIZON Innovation Actions (IA), HORIZON Coordination and Support Actions (CSA) and HORIZON Programme Cofund Actions (COFUND), with a single-stage application process and a deadline of September 23, 2025.