India and Sweden have agreed to collaborate in joint projects for green steel development and production, an Indian government official said on Thursday, October 12.
The official said that the scope of the collaboration outlined included carrying out joint studies on technologies for green steel production, setting up pilot projects, and experimental technologies like switching to hydrogen-based steelmaking from fossil fuel-fired blast furnaces.
The two countries will jointly attempt to seek funding from multilateral institutions like the United National Industrial Development Organization, OECD, World Bank and also private fund managers, the official said.
The collaboration is being spearheaded by the ministry of steel from India’s side, but the final letter of intent to be signed between the two countries will be led by the ministry of forests, environment and climate change (MoEFCC) of the Indian government.
The Swedish Research Institute for Mining, Metallurgy and Materials has provided inputs to the government-to-government talks on the collaboration and has submitted that initiatives need to be launched to develop processes of steelmaking from lower grade ores, replacing the blast furnace route with the direct reduction iron (DRI) process, and develop the use of hydrogen and bio-carbons as reductants.
