Tata Steel plans to scale up usage of hydrogen in steel making process: CEO & MD T V Narendran

Tata Steel plans to scale up the usage of hydrogen in the steel making process after the successful completion of the pilot project at its Jamshedpur plant, in Jharkhand, the company's CEO and MD T V Narendran said. In April 2023, Tata Steel commenced the first of its kind experiment injecting hydrogen gas using 40 per cent of the injection systems in an E-blast furnace at its steel plant in Jamshedpur, Jharkhand. "It was very successful, we will scale it up, But eventually we need to have green hydrogen available in Eastern India that will determine how it can be used," Narendran told PTI in reply to a question on the results of the trials. However, he did not tell the quantum in which the company plans to increase the usage of hydrogen.

Injection of hydrogen in blast furnaces helps reduce consumption of coal leading to a reduction in carbon footprint. "This is the first time in the world that such a large quantity of hydrogen gas is being continuously injected in a blast furnace," he said. Speaking on the company's operations in the Netherlands, Narendran said the business there is moving from coal to gas to hydrogen and the transition is important for that nation because Tata Steel Netherlands will become one of the biggest consumers of hydrogen there.

The industry leader further said hydrogen is a very important part of the solution in the steel industry's transitioning into a greener future because like coal it plays an important role not just as an energy source but as a reductant of emission in the steel-making process. Steel accounts for about 8 per cent of the carbon footprint in the world.