Japanese steelmaker Nippon Steel has announced that it has achieved the world’s first carbon emission reduction of over 40 percent in a test furnace at the East Nippon Works Kimitsu Area. In the test conducted from November to December this year, the company verified a 43 percent reduction in carbon emissions.
In this test, this significant carbon emission reduction was achieved by improving the heat balance inside the blast furnace during the use of heated hydrogen when increasing the reduction with hydrogen instead of carbon.
Nippon Steel has been conducting development tests of its Super COURSE50 technology, which uses heated hydrogen to reduce carbon emissions, in the given test furnace since May 2022. The company achieved a 22 percent emission reduction from the furnace in 2022 and a 33 percent reduction in 2023.
Nippon Steel stated that it will continue to develop technologies that reduce carbon emissions from the steelmaking process by more than 50 percent.