New Delhi: The Union government has sanctioned three pilot projects as part of the National Green Hydrogen Mission for the use of Green Hydrogen in steel production. Earlier the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy had issued guidelines for the implementation of pilot projects in the steel sector under this mission. The objectives of the scheme were to identify advance technologies for utilising Green Hydrogen in steelmaking, through pilot projects.
“These pilot projects can demonstrate safe and secure operations of green hydrogen-based steel making processes, validating technical feasibility and performance, evaluating their economic viability thereby leading to low-carbon iron and steel production. Accordingly, the proposals were invited for three components (i) Pilot project to produce DRI using 100 % Hydrogen using vertical shaft, (ii) Use of Hydrogen in Blast Furnace to reduce coal/ coke consumption and (iii) Injection of Hydrogen in vertical shaft based DRI making unit,” said the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE).
Based on the evaluations of the proposals received, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has sanctioned total three pilot projects in the steel sector, (a) Matrix Gas and Renewables Ltd (Consortium members: Gensol Engineering Ltd, Indian Institute of Technology Bhubaneswar, Metsol AB, Sweden) with pilot plant capacity 50 ton-per-day (TPD), (b) Simplex Castings Ltd (Consortium member: BSBK Pvt. Ltd., Ten Eight Investment, IIT Bhilai) with pilot plant capacity 40 TPD and (c) Steel Authority of India Ltd (Ranchi) with plant capacity 3,200 TPD.
The total financial support provided by the government will be Rs 347 crore. These pilot projects are likely to be commissioned in the next three years, paving way for the scale-up of such technologies in India.
The National Green Hydrogen Mission was launched on January 4, 2023 with an outlay of Rs 19,744 crore up to FY 2029-30. It will contribute to India’s goal of becoming Aatmanirbhar (self-reliant) through clean energy and serve as an inspiration for the global clean energy transition. The mission will lead to significant decarbonisation of the economy, reduced dependence on fossil fuel imports, and enable India to assume technology and market leadership in Green Hydrogen.
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