A consortium headed by the Institute of Minerals and Materials Technology (IMMT) has expressed interest to pilot India’s first green steel-making initiative using 100 per cent hydrogen-based DRI production method. The project will be partly supported by the steel ministry.

In industrial-scale hydrogen-iron making, also known as direct reduction of iron (DRI) using hydrogen, the oxygen is removed from the iron-ore. But instead of using high carbon emitting fossil fuels, it is done using hydrogen with the waste gas being water. The DRI so produced, also called sponge iron, is then fed into an electric arc furnace where electrodes generate a current to use it to produce steel.

Earlier in June, steel Ministry had floated tenders – under the National Green Hydrogen Mission with an outlay Rs ₹455 crore - seeking participation for industry to pilot green steel-making, that is steel made where carbon emission or carbon content is substantially lower. The pilots will use hydrogen as an alternative to conventional coking coal.

Three steel-making methods were explored; the first one involve 100 per cent hydrogen-based DRI production; the second involves injecting hydrogen into an existing blast furnace; and third will see blending of hydrogen with natural gas in an existing DRI plant so as to gradually bring down fossil fuel usage.

“So far a consortium-based pilot for H2 based DRI facility has received a bid. The CSIR IMMT-headed consortium along with some other stakeholders have so far come ahead and placed a bid. It is under consideration at the moment,” a Ministry official told businessline.

“The last date of bid submission is July 12 for all the three processes. And till a few days ago, we had received one bid for 100 per cent hydrogen based DRI making,” the official said.

Incidentally, apart the the IMMT-based consortium, another institute, IIT–Roorkee, has recently come up with a presentation to the Ministry for retro-fitting in (coal-intensive) blast furnaces that allows them to use gas or bio-coke as alternatives.

CO₂ emissions in steel-making

The need to decarbonise the industry is pressing.

Steel production in India remains heavily dependent on coking coal in traditional blast furnaces, which produces huge amounts of carbon dioxide. Electric arc furnaces typically used in the recycling of scrap or final stages of steel production are less carbon-intensive. But can also be highly polluting.

Overall, steel production is calculated to be responsible for 7-9 per cent of the world’s annual CO₂ emissions, according to the World Steel Association.

Incidentally, the average CO₂ emission intensity of the Indian steel industry was projected to come down from 3.1 T/tcs in 2005 to 2.64 T/tcs by 2020 and is targeted to come down to 2.4 T/tcs by 2030 (that is, approximately 1 per cent per year).

Cost of hydrogen

Ministry officials said, work in underway to bring the cost of hydrogen to around $1–1.5 per kg, as against the existing $4-odd per kg. Some incentives have been announced already.

The second tranche of the SIGHT (Strategic Interventions for Green Hydrogen Transition) scheme with an outlay of ₹2,220 crore and a capacity addition of 1,500 MW has been announced.

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