Japanese steel industry to launch hydrogen-based steelmaking technology

Japan's New Energy Industry and Technology Development Organization (NED0) announced on 7 Jan'21 that it would launch a project to supply hydrogen-reduced steel technology to minimise carbon emissions.

This project aims to develop a technology that will help the Japanese steel industry in reducing carbon dioxide emissions by more than 50% by 2030.

For this purpose, a budget of about 193.5 billion yen (about $1.67 billion) which is part of the government's Green Innovation Fund, will be invested.

Major steel companies like Nippon Steel, JFE Steel and Kobe Steel, and the Japan Metal Research and Development Center (JRCM) participated to form a consortium to understand decarbonisation in the steelmaking processes.

"The carbon emission reduction in the Japanese steel industry is a priority because the steel industry accounts for 40% of carbon dioxide emissions," said Japanese steel players.

NEDO reported that it achieved a carbon reduction effect of about 30% by using hydrogen instead of coke using the test blast furnace. However, additional verification in actual blast furnaces is necessary to introduce this technology to Japanese steel mills.

Japan is known as the world's third largest crude steel producer after China and India with 83.2 million tonnes (mn t) in 2020, according to World Steel Associations (WSA) data.

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