Purehydrogenbased DRI tech for making green steel in the works

India is looking at developing its own purehydrogen based DRI (direct reduction of iron) technology to be used in making of green steel. The process will be unique to the country and the detailed project report so prepared “is under – scrutiny” across ministries, a senior government official aware of the discussions, told businessline.

Industrialscale hydrogeniron making — also known as direct reduction of iron (DRI) using hydrogen — is where oxygen is removed from the ironore and instead of using high carbon emitting fossil fuels, the process is done using hydrogen, with the waste gas removed as water. The DRI so produced, also called sponge iron, is then fed into an electric arc furnace where electrodes generate a current to use it to produce steel.

“This technology is still developing and some of the ministries — such as steel and MNRE — and industry players are working together to get the pilots going onground,” the official said, requesting anonymity. “It’s an ambitious project,” the official added.

Sources aware of the discussions say that a pilot plant using pure hydrogenbased DRI making is being proposed in a “consortium mode”. It involves integrated steel players, secondary players and CSIR Lab for development of the technology and necessary IP.

“The Scheme has been approved by MNRE (Ministry of New and Renewable Energy) last month,” the official said.

In India, there are two prominent avenues of hydrogenusage in steel making. The first involves injection of hydrogen in the tuyeres (a nozzle through which air is forced) of the blast furnaces as a partial substitution of pulverised coal injection. The second process is where mixing or blending of hydrogen with the natural gas or fossil fuel based reductants in the DRI furnaces is carried out.

“These two options can be deployed on a pilot scale in some units in India with partial support from the National Green Hydrogen Mission,” the official said adding advertisement for the selection of the participants under the more popular two modes will be issued soon.