Nippon Steel to produce DRI to reduce carbon emissions

Japanese steel company Nippon Steel plans to produce iron through direct reduction using hydrogen to reduce carbon emissions and meet growing demand for green steel. Reuters reports about it.

At the same time, the company will continue to invest in the production of coking coal and purchase it for steel production. Nippon Steel is keen to secure supplies of this raw material as new mine development projects are scaled back due to climate targets. The Japanese steelmaker owns stakes in several mining companies, from which it receives about 20% of its annual coking coal and iron ore imports.

Steel production accounts for 7-9% of global carbon emissions, so efforts to reduce them are one of the key tasks. According to Nippon Steel president Eiji Hashimoto, the company will deal with raw materials as its own business, rather than simply buying iron ore or coking coal. He noted that they will try to invest in DRI production projects together with partners.

Steel companies are studying the possibility of using hydrogen for the production of direct reduction iron – currently it is produced mainly with the help of natural gas.

As GMK Center reported earlier, Australian mining company Fortescue Metals signed an agreement with Japan’s Mitsubishi Corp. and the European steel producer Voestalpine regarding the creation of an industrial prototype of a plant for the production of direct reduction iron. The DRI production process using hydrogen and electric steel furnaces at the Voestalpine site in Austria will be based on solutions from Primetals Technologies, one of Mitsubishi’s joint ventures. Fortescue, in turn, will supply various grades of iron ore to the new plant.