The Union Government has approved three pilot projects under the National Green Hydrogen Mission to explore the use of hydrogen in steel production. The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy had earlier released guidelines for implementing pilot projects in the steel sector as part of this mission.
The main goal of these projects is to test advanced technologies that use green hydrogen in steelmaking. The pilot projects aim to demonstrate safe and secure green hydrogen-based steel production methods, confirm the technical feasibility of these processes, and assess their economic viability. This would lead to low-carbon iron and steel production in the future.
The proposals focused on three key areas: (i) producing Direct Reduced Iron (DRI) using 100% hydrogen in a vertical shaft, (ii) reducing coal and coke consumption in blast furnaces by using hydrogen, and (iii) injecting hydrogen into vertical shaft-based DRI production units.
After evaluating various proposals, the Ministry selected three pilot projects. The first project, by Matrix Gas and Renewables Ltd, is a consortium that includes Gensol Engineering Ltd, the Indian Institute of Technology Bhubaneswar, and Metsol AB from Sweden. Their plant will have a capacity of 50 tons per day (TPD). The second project, by Simplex Castings Ltd, involves BSBK Pvt. Ltd., Ten Eight Investment, and IIT Bhilai, and will have a capacity of 40 TPD. The third project is by the Steel Authority of India Ltd (Ranchi), which will have a larger capacity of 3,200 TPD.
The total financial support for these projects amounts to ₹347 crore, provided by the Government of India. These pilot projects are expected to be completed within the next three years, after which the technologies could be scaled up in India.
The National Green Hydrogen Mission, launched on January 4, 2023, with a budget of ₹19,744 crore up to FY 2029-30, aims to promote clean energy, reduce dependence on fossil fuels, and support India’s goal of becoming self-reliant in clean energy production.
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