Decarbonizing Indian Steel Sector
Ujjal Ghosh, Ph.D
Professor at Dayananda Sagar College of Engineering, Bengaluru I Postdoc from Univ of Melbourne, Australia I M.Tech & Ph.D from IIT KGP I Chemical Engineering I Hydrogen I CCUS
#India is one of the fastest growing world economies and ranked 5th as per GDP. In the forthcoming growth and development period, India will use more #energy and #steel in the infrastructure development and other uses. #Steel is being used in #buildings, #infrastructure, #tools, #ships, #trains, #cars, #machines, electrical appliances. The #emissions from #iron and #steel sector stands at 135.420 million tonnes #CO2 in 2016 according to the report submitted by Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). #India is committed to combating #climatechange and determined to achieve #netzero by 2070. According to a Ministry of Steel article, “Towards this, in short term (FY 2030), reduction of carbon emissions in steel industry through promotion of energy and resource efficiency, renewable energy etc. is the focus. For the medium term (2030-2047), Green Hydrogen and Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage are the focus areas. For long term (2047-2070), disruptive alternative technological innovations can help achieve the transition to net-zero.”
In order to explore #lowcarbon options in hard-to-abate sectors such as #steel, best available technologies in the steel sectors need to be perused. The purpose of this is to increase #energyefficiency and increase utilization of scrap are important strategies for reducing #emissions. In the recently approved National Green Hydrogen Mission by Indian Cabinet, there is provision for #greenhydrogen to be used in #steelproduction as #hydrogen can play a key role to #decarbonize the steel production process. However, the #CAPEX (capital expenditure) requirements are high and would need to reduce substantially to enable increased scale of #hydrogen use for #steelproduction. #Renewableenergy can be used in the secondary steel industry (SSI) sector to reduce the overall #CO2emissions from the steel sector. Green procurement policies could help to establish a pull for green steel thus enhancing efforts for achieving sustainability in this sector.
Research & Development is crucial in the following technology options to reduce the carbon footprint of existing technologies during the transition period before moving into non-coal based steel production:
a) #Coolingtower energy consumption optimization
b) Chiller Plant energy consumption optimization
c) Coke Oven Gas (COG) Consumption reduction by installing tail gas cleaning system
d) By-product fuel gas optimization in a steel industry
e) Integrating cutting-edge technologies like additive manufacturing and Artificial Intelligence, to make products and production smarter and more sustainable
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