On March 4, Jindal Stainless commissioned its maiden green hydrogen plant. The plant, located at its stainless steel manufacturing facility in Hisar, was built in partnership with renewable energy firm Hygenco. The company says it intends to cut carbon emissions by approximately 2,700 metric tonnes per year and 54,000 tonnes over 20 years through the green hydrogen facility.
The facility, powered by rooftop and floating solar, is controlled by an advanced energy management and control system. Hygenco is operating the plant under a Build-Own-Operate (BOO) model.
Injection of hydrogen in blast furnaces helps reduce consumption of coal, thereby reducing the carbon footprint.
The move comes in the wake of India setting an ambitious target of achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2070. To this end, the carbon-intensive steel sector has been inching towards adopting greener technologies.
Moneycontrol explains what key metal players are doing to pivot towards green steel.
How are companies infusing green hydrogen in their steel facilities?
In April 2023, Tata Steel commenced the trial injection of hydrogen gas using 40 percent of the injection systems in the ‘E’ Blast Furnace at its steel plant in Jamshedpur, marking a significant milestone in the steel industry's journey towards green and sustainable steelmaking.
The trial has the potential to reduce the coke rate by 10 percent, translating into around 7-10 percent reduction in CO2 emissions per ton of crude steel produced, the company said. Tata Steel plans to scale up the use of the green hydrogen and noted that it needs to be available in eastern India.
Another steel major, Kalyani Group, had stated that it is looking at using hydrogen as a reduction agent in producing steel. The group has set up two electrolysers in research and development facilities to manufacture green hydrogen, but is yet to convert its plant for green hydrogen usage.
Which companies have moved ahead with setting up green hydrogen plants?
Last year, Tata Steel and renewable energy company ACME group signed an agreement to set up a Green Hydrogen and Green Ammonia project at Tata Steel SEZ’s Gopalpur Industrial Park in Odisha. The group plans to set up a nearly 1.3 MTPA (million tonnes per annum) green ammonia production facility at GIP. This green ammonia will be produced from green hydrogen, and the production facilities will be powered by renewable power.
On the other hand, JSW Steel has tapped its subsidiary, awarding a contract to JSW Energy to set up a 3,800-tonnes-per-annum plant to supply green hydrogen to its steel plant in Vijayanagara. The steel giant aims to start producing green steel by 2025.
How is green hydrogen used in steelmaking?
Steel is traditionally made in a blast furnace using coke as a fuel source to heat iron ore pellets. But under the green steel method, coke is replaced with hydrogen to reduce the iron pellets into sponge iron—metallic iron that can then be processed to form steel.
Green hydrogen is produced by electrolysing water in a process that requires significant amounts of electricity. However, obtaining sufficient electricity from renewable energy sources will be the key challenge for green hydrogen production.
What is the government doing to support green hydrogen use?
The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy said on February 2 that it will implement pilot projects using green hydrogen to replace fossil fuels in steel production. Three key areas have been identified for the pilot projects: use of hydrogen in the direct reduced ironmaking process, use of hydrogen in blast furnaces, and gradually substituting fossil fuels with green hydrogen.
The pilot projects will serve to identify operational and technical gaps and the inputs gleaned will be utilised while scaling up commercial deployment of green hydrogen.
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