India’s first green steel initiative
India’s first green steel initiative
Sub: Environment
Sec: Climate change
Why in news?
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.
What is Green Steel?
Green steel is the eco-friendly production of steel with substantially lower carbon emissions.
The pilots will use hydrogen as an alternative to conventional coking coal.
Three steel-making methods:
- 100 per cent hydrogen-based DRI production
- Injecting hydrogen into an existing blast furnace
- Blending of hydrogen with natural gas in an existing DRI plant so as to gradually bring down fossil fuel usage.
Recently IIT-Roorkee came up with bio-coke as an alternative to coking coal.
What is Direct Reduction of Iron (DRI)
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.
Need for green steel
- Steel production in India remains heavily dependent on coking coal in traditional blast furnaces, which produces huge amounts of carbon
- 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.
- 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.
- India’s domestic steel sector contributes 12% of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions, with an emission intensity of 55 tonnes of CO2 per tonne of crude steel, higher than the global average of 1.9 tonnes of CO2.
Green Steel Initiatives
| India | Steel Ministry is developing a comprehensive green steel policy, encompassing the manufacturing process, required skill set, and funding support, as part of a complete decarbonization strategy. |
| Global | 1. First Movers Coalition initiative of the World Economic Forum to decarbonize industrial sectors like steel. 2. By 2030, the European Union is projected to host nearly 50 green and low-carbon steel projects, driven by policies like Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism. |