Imagine: the combustible gas that steel plants have for years merely flared off in chimneys—solely to prevent it from polluting the air—will now be used to produce the nation’s strongest steel.
By overturning this long-standing tradition in the Indian steel industry, Tata Steel has achieved a scientific breakthrough that is astonishing steel producers worldwide.
The company has successfully launched the country’s first Coke Oven Gas (COG) injection project at Blast Furnace-1 of its Meramandali plant in Odisha. Here is how ‘Green Steel’ will be produced from what was once toxic smoke:
Traditionally, thousands of tons of solid coal (coke) are burned in blast furnaces to melt iron ore and extract oxygen, a process that releases massive amounts of carbon dioxide.
Conversely, the Coke Oven Gas released during the coal processing stage was previously used only for basic power generation or simply flared off into the open atmosphere.
Tata Steel has devised a scientific solution for utilizing this gas. It contains over 55 percent pure hydrogen and hydrocarbons.
In collaboration with global technical experts Paul Wurth-SMS and Kobelco, this gas is now being injected directly into the blast furnace’s nozzles (tuyeres).
The result is that hydrogen, rather than coal, will drive the chemical reaction within the furnace, causing steam (water vapor) to be emitted instead of polluting smoke.
Roadmap to Net Zero by 2045
Subodh Pandey, Vice President (Technology & R&D) at Tata Steel, stated that recycling process gases to reduce reliance on external fossil fuels represents the future of sustainable manufacturing.
This innovation will accelerate the company’s journey toward achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2045. Meanwhile, Sudhir Kumar Mehta, Vice President (Operations) of Meramandali, stated that this technology has made production highly cost-effective and clean.
