India’s Tata Steel Limited has started trial injection of hydrogen at its blast furnace at its Jamshedpur steel mill, the company said in a statement on Monday, April 24.
“Tata Steel has commenced trial injection of hydrogen gas using 40 percent of the injection system in the ‘E’ blast furnace at Jamshedpur. This is the first time in the world that such a large quantity of hydrogen gas is being continuously injected in a blast furnace. The trial started on April 23 and will continue for the next four to five days on a continuous basis,” the statement said.
It will provide valuable insights into operating blast furnaces with greener fuel injectants, reducing fossil fuel consumption and subsequent carbon dioxide emissions from the blast furnace, the statement said.
Tata Steel said the trial has the potential to reduce the coke utilization rate by 10 percent, translating into a reduction of around 7-10 percent in carbon dioxide per metric ton of crude steel produced.