The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy said on Friday that it has approved three pilot projects to use hydrogen in steel production under the National Green Hydrogen Mission.
According to a statement, the three authorized projects are consortiums led by Matrix Gas and Renewables, Simple Castings and Steel Authority of India.
The Matrix Gas and Renewables consortium has Gensol Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Bhubaneswar and Swedish firm Metsol AB, with a capacity of 50 tonnes per day.
Simple Castings roped in construction company BSBK, Ten Eight Investment and IIT Bhilai, with a 40 TPD pilot project capacity.
Steel Authority of India will create a green hydrogen-powered steel facility with a capacity of 3,200 TPD.
The statement further said that the government will provide financial support amounting to ₹3.47 billion ($41.28 million) to these pilot projects.
These are the first projects approved under the NGHM and are expected to be commissioned in the next three years.
These projects will test various hydrogen applications in steelmaking. The most critical is producing direct reduced iron or DRI using 100 percent hydrogen.
The next is injecting gas into blast furnaces to reduce coal and coke consumption.
The ministry will also check hydrogen blending with natural gas in DRI furnaces.
Hydrogen-based DRI technology replaces fossil fuels with hydrogen, which reacts with iron ore to produce sponge iron, emitting only water vapor as a byproduct instead of carbon dioxide.
The pilot facilities aim to validate the technical feasibility of using green hydrogen and its derivatives for low-carbon iron and steel production. This includes establishing processes that are safe and efficient for industrial-scale operations.
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