As part of the National Green Hydrogen Mission, the Union government has sanctioned three pilot projects for the use of hydrogen in steel production.

Earlier, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy had issued guidelines for the implementation of pilot projects in the steel sector under this mission. The objectives of the scheme were to identify advanced technologies for utilising green hydrogen in steelmaking, through pilot projects.

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These pilot projects can demonstrate safe and secure operations of green hydrogen-based steel-making processes, validating technical feasibility and performance, and evaluating their economic viability thereby leading to low-carbon iron and steel production.

Accordingly, proposals were invited for three components (i) a pilot project to produce DRI using 100 % Hydrogen using a vertical shaft, (ii) the use of hydrogen in the blast furnace to reduce coal/coke consumption, and (iii) injection of hydrogen in vertical shaft based DRI making unit, according to a ministry release.

Based on the evaluation of the proposals received, the ministry has sanctioned a total of three pilot projects in the steel sector, (a) Matrix Gas and Renewables Ltd (Consortium members: Gensol Engineering Ltd, Indian Institute of Technology Bhubaneswar, Metsol AB, Sweden) with pilot plant capacity 50 ton-per-day (TPD), (b) Simplex Castings Ltd (Consortium member: BSBK Pvt. Ltd., Ten Eight Investment, IIT Bhilai) with pilot plant capacity 40 TPD, and (c) Steel Authority of India Ltd (Ranchi) with plant capacity 3200 TPD.

The total financial support made available for the projects from the Centre will be Rs 347 crore. These pilot projects are expected to be commissioned in the next three years, paving the way to the scaleup of such technologies in India.

The mission was launched on January 4, 2023, with an outlay of Rs 19,744 crore up to FY 2029-30. It will contribute to India’s goal to become aatmanirbhar (self-reliant) through clean energy and serve as an inspiration for the global clean energy transition. The mission will lead to significant de-carbonization of the economy, reduced dependence on fossil fuel imports, and enable the country to assume technology and market leadership in green hydrogen, the release added.