India: Reducing 20% carbon emissions from steel industry by 2030 feasible’

• Energy, material efficiency, and renewable energy to help achieve target
• Steel second-largest carbon emitting sector in India
• India aims to switch to hydrogen-based DRI from solid fuel-based

Morning Brief: Reducing carbon emissions by 20% by 2030 is feasible. This was informed by Neha Verma, Director, Ministry of Steel, during a SteelMint-organised webinar series. Speaking on the opening session’s topic, “India’s transition to Net Zero by 2070: The Way Forward,” at Engage 3.0, Verma sounded upbeat when she shared that, in the last five years, emissions have come down due to a host of measures.

“We are already working towards this goal. In fact, we firmly believe that energy efficiency, renewable energy and material efficiency can help us to reduce emissions by 20% by 2030. Significantly, we have managed to reduce emissions in our steel plants in the last five years. However, there remains a lot to do in this sphere itself,” Verma explained.

“We have a target as per our National Steel Policy (NSP) to increase our current steel production capacity, from 154 million tonnes (mnt) to 300 mnt by 2030. It may be mentioned here that steel is the second-largest carbon emitting sector in India. In comparison to the world steel sector’s 8% carbon emission, we generate emission of 12%,” Verma informed.

“Very low availability of natural gas, scrap and low-grade iron ore have made our tasks difficult. However, we have to remain cautious to maintain a fine balance between our goals of reducing carbon emissions and increasing production capacity. Decarbonisation should not jeopardize our industrial growth or employment generation,” Verma further informed.

Future of green hydrogen in DRI-making
Verma cited the work on green hydrogen in Sweden where hybrid plants are using this in direct reduced iron (DRI) making. However, she said that it will take some more time as these projects are still at a pilot stage, and only by 2026 can one expect these to become commercialised.

In India, on the other hand, a draft policy is in place to enhance the usage of green hydrogen; but a lot in the interim needs to be done to make it commercially viable.

Most importantly, she reminded, “We have to see that our decarbonisation efforts do not hamper our production quality.” Hence, a collaboration of R&D and technology is needed where implementation of alternate processes of steelmaking can be started. These require less carbon. For instance, the Molten Oxide Electrolysis (MOE) method can be implemented gradually in India’s steel mills. MOE needs a different kind of iron feedstock, so the same will also change eventually.

India on path to net zero
She further added that all these will happen in a staggered manner. “There’s no magic or silver bullet! With time, focusing on our draft policy for Net Zero Emission 2070 and by listening to our industry stakeholders, we can gradually achieve this target. Already, in our Integrated Steel Plants (ISPs) we have witnessed some welcome changes in this context. We also gained a lot from our Perform, Achieve, Trade (PAT) scheme,” she remarked.

She also pointed out that in near future, increasing use of pellets in iron making will cut down carbon emission. “We aim to take our research from labs to pilot levels. For this, we want to foster the environment of R&D which will create institutions. The ultimate aim is to switch from solid fuel-based DRI to pure hydrogen gas-based DRI,” Verma said.

India is moving in the right direction to achieve its ‘Net Zero by 2070 Goals’ Verma reaffirmed.

While answering a question from the audience, Verma stressed on the importance of a smooth transition where a percentage of hydrogen can be blended for production. Here, adopting a carbon capture and storage (CCS) strategy will also boost India’s step towards net zero by 2070.

Replying to another query from the audience, Verma said steel demand this year is higher than last year (2021) due to the government’s infrastructure push. Here, there are so many projects where crores and lakhs of rupees are riding. Thus, the demand for steel will remain for some more time, she stressed.