India’s steel sector accounts for about 12% of India’s carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, with an emission intensity of 2.55 tonne of CO2/tonne of crude steel (tCO2/tcs) compared with the global average emission intensity of 1.85 tCO2/tcs. To this end, the Government is focusing on green hydrogen-based steelmaking, carbon capture, storage and utilization (CCUS), and best-in-class technologies in energy efficiency and transition to renewable energy.
In its biennial update report submitted to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), India's Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MOEF&CC) estimated India's total CO2 emissions in 2016 at 135.42Mt. However, under the ongoing expansion program as per the National Steel Policy, India's overall CO2 emissions are expected to increase substantially.
Current Steel Production
Both production and consumption of steel have increased significantly in the last few years. Data compiled by the Joint Plant Committee (JPC) under India’s Steel Ministry showed crude steel production at a record 103.18Mt between April 2022 and January 2023 period as against 99.03Mt reported for the previous full financial year (i.e. April 2021-March 2022). Similarly, finished steel production during April 2022-January 2023 stood at a high of 98.26Mt compared to 93.41Mt in the previous full financial year. Further, India’s finished steel consumption was reported at 96.38Mt between April 2022 and January 2023 in comparison with 86.97Mt in the last financial year (April 2021-March 2022).
Measures Toward Low Carbon Steel Production
India has also announced plans to become carbon neutral by 2070.
From the steel industry’s point of view, the government has divided the entire 2070 carbon neutral plan into three broad categories. Focusing on the short term – until 2030 – the Indian government has decided to promote energy efficiency in the steel industry and encourage steel producers to emphasize resource efficiency and renewable energy for a sustainable future. For the medium term – between 2030 and 2047 – the focus area could be green hydrogen and carbon capture, utilization, and storage. For the long-term perspective – between 2047 and 2070 – disruptive alternative technological innovations are the primary focus that can help achieve the transition to net zero.
To promote healthy growth in the steel industry with its focus on low-carbon and best-quality products, India has introduced the Steel Scrap Recycling Policy which enhances the availability of domestically generated scrap to reduce the consumption of coal in steel making. Also, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has announced the Green Hydrogen Mission for the production and consumption of green hydrogen as a fuel and replacing fossil fuels like coal. Additionally, India introduced the Motor Vehicles Recycling Rule under which old vehicles were scrapped and sent for recycling. The hope is to eventually increase the availability of steel scrap in the country. A national solar mission was also launched to promote solar energy and help the steel sector to reduce overall CO2 emissions. Also, a Perform, Achieve, and Trade (PAT) scheme was introduced to incentivize the steel industry to reduce energy consumption.
Encourage the Use of Scrap Steel for Production
India’s Steel Policy estimates the country’s crude steel production will reach 300Mt by the financial year 2030-31, by expanding capacity through both greenfield and brownfield projects.
The government has emphasized the lower use of power in existing steel production factories. To achieve this goal, however, the government has encouraged steel producers to cut down on their use of iron ore and coking coal as raw materials to manufacture the best quality products for application in infrastructure and construction projects.
The government plans for secondary steelmaking using ferrous scrap as raw material to account for 40% of India’s total steel production. Presently, India imports a huge quantity of ferrous scrap to meet the raw material demand for producing secondary steel. Production of secondary steel by using scrap is estimated to utilize 74% less energy than the production of steel from iron ore.
Overall, green steel production and consumption in India has started gaining momentum, but the transition is very costly.
As a leader in VPSA and PSA industry, PKU Pioneer has established cooperation with multiple Indian steel powerhouses and built more than 10 oxygen plants in India.
Data showed that the shortest construction period of VPSA oxygen generation equipment built in Chinese steel mills is only 4 months. PKU Pioneer's oxygen systems can provide stable and economic O2 for oxygen-enriched ironmaking in foundry blast furnaces, blast furnaces, EAF steelmaking and other processes. The maximum capacity of a single enterprise has reached 100,000 Nm3/h.
Due to the advantages of lower overall energy consumption and investment cost, shorter construction period and simpler process, VPSA & PSA oxygen unit has been favored by nearly 70 iron and steel users all over the world.
In addition, Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) technology has also been maturely applied in CO and H2 purification. Iron and steel mills can separate CO and H2 from the exhaust gases such as BFG, BOFG, COG, etc., and apply them to synthesize chemical products, which not only dramatically reduces their carbon emissions for carbon neutral promotion, but also enhances the comprehensive economic benefits. PKU Pioneer has provided PSA-CO purification plant for blast furnace gas and converter gas and PSA-H2 plant for coke oven gas for a number of iron and steel enterprises, realizing the efficient utilization of the exhaust gases from steel mills, and creating significant economic benefits for the users.
（Extracted from Steel Times International）
