DRI plants to aid India become carbon neutral: JSPL vice chairman

V.R. Sharma, vice chairman of advisory services at Jindal Steel and Power Ltd., emphasized the need for major Indian steel manufacturers and small-scale producers to set up new direct-reduced iron plants to achieve the target of becoming carbon neutral by 2070.

The direct reduced iron (DRI) is a method used to reduce iron ore into iron for manufacturing steel.

Indian prime minister Narendra Modi in November 2021 pledged to achieve carbon neutral status by 2070 at the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow.

Converting coal into syngas, or synthetic gas, and then converting syngas into direct reduced iron or sponge iron is the most convenient route for the country for manufacturing steel, he said.

"I think the time has come for sponge iron manufacturers and those who directly use coal, to convert coal into syngas … and make direct reduced iron through coal gasification route," Sharma said at an event organized by Sponge Iron Manufacturers Association in Delhi on Sept. 30.

Sharma said DRI plants should be made flexible to be able to switch to hydrogen whenever the fuel is made available for use as an input in steel manufacturing.

"We should implement more and more DRI plants in the country and each DRI plant should switch over from existing syngas to hydrogen by 2047, the 100th year of India's independence," Sharma said.

Syngas is the only way to survive for the Indian industry as there is no natural gas available and hydrogen at $4/kg will result in an increase in steel prices if it is employed immediately, so it remains to be seen when hydrogen can be implemented in this country, Sharma added.

The government had announced plans in the union budget 2022-23 (April-March) earlier this year to set up four coal gasification plants in a phased manner in the country as part of its plan to fulfil the target of producing 100 mt of coal gasification by 2030.

The blast furnace is a curse for the steel industry and production of steel through the blast furnace route needs to be seized in the next 20-25 years' time, Sharma said.

Further, he also said that the steel sector is responsible for around 12% of total carbon emissions in the country, while other industries contribute around 88% of carbon emissions.

Other sectors that contribute significantly toward carbon emissions will have to explore the option of utilizing renewable energy sources such as solar energy and hydrogen as fuel before the steel manufacturing sector adopts these measures on a large scale.

Speaking on the Indian government's pledge to achieve carbon neutrality by 2070, Sharma said it is imperative to evaluate and scrutinize which suitable technology is available across the world for the first 24 years between 2022 and 2070.

In the remaining 24 years, he said, we should strive to implement appropriate technology for successfully achieving the target of becoming carbon neutral by 2070.

The subsequent steps in moving toward a carbon-neutral country include examining ways to capture and store carbon from DRI plants and utilizing it in the most effective way, he said.