India’s Tata Steel Limited has emerged as the first steelmaker in the country to develop steel pipes for transportation of hydrogen, a company statement said on Wednesday, January 29.
The pipes have been processed at the company’s plant in Khopoli in Maharashtra using steel made at Tata Steel’s steel mill at Kalinganagar, Odisha, the company said.
The complete technology development, from designing and manufacturing hot rolled steel to producing the pipes, was done entirely in-house, demonstrating Tata Steel's ability to deliver critical energy infrastructure, it said.
In 2024, Tata Steel became the first Indian steel company to produce hot rolled steel suitable for use in hydrogen transportation solutions.
The hydrogen qualification tests were carried out at RINA-CSM S.p.A, Italy, a leading approval agency for hydrogen-related testing and characterisation.
The new hydrogen-compliant API X65 grade pipes can be used for transportation of 100 percent pure gaseous hydrogen under high pressure (100 bar), it said.
The company said its research and development team has extensively developed innovative and sustainable solutions for hydrogen transportation and storage. This is aligned with India’s National Hydrogen Mission to build capabilities to produce at least 5 million mt of green hydrogen per year by 2030, with the potential to reach 10 million mt.
Demand for steel compliant with hydrogen transportation is expected to start to be seen from 2026-27, with a total steel requirement of 350,000 mt spanning over the next five to seven years. While various mechanisms of hydrogen transportation are available, steel pipelines are considered economically more viable for mass transportation, Tata Steel said in the statement.
