The world is placing more and more emphasis on sustainable steel production. The fundamental issue is that the manufacturing of steel is still a CO2 and energy-intensive process.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that the steel industry is responsible for between 7 and 9 % of greenhouse gas pollution, which traps sunlight, warms the planet, amplifies heat waves, and promotes tropical cyclones. As a result, this industry is the second biggest consumer of industrial energy, after the chemical sector.
Additionally, according to Agora Energiewende, "the 2020s are very critical because more than 70 percent of the world's blast furnaces will reach the end of their useful life and will require reinvestment decisions." However, achieving sustainability in the steel business can also be seen as a great opportunity to drive investment into technological development. In this way, steel sustainability can become a driver of innovation.
Boosting technological investments: Replacing coal and gas with hydrogen.
Nowadays, there is growing public and investor interest in sustainability. One solution to make steel production more eco-friendly is to extract iron from ore by reacting the rock with gas in facilities called “direct-reduction iron plants”. These iron granules can be converted into steel in an electric arc furnace, which can be powered by electricity from renewable energy. The use of fossil gas is cleaner than coal.
Greening steel production will mean replacing fossil-based energy cycles with green hydrogen. For instance, manufacturers in Europe, like SSAB and ThyssenKrupp, are dedicated to using hydrogen to power their facilities. Hydrogen is a gas that can be generated cleanly by using renewable energy. So, instead of performing a reaction of the oxygen atoms with carbon atoms to create CO2, as is currently the case, they would react with hydrogen atoms to produce H2O.
According to EUROFER, hydrogen consumption in the steel sector will increase to 1,200-1,800 TWh/year by 2050, with the majority of the energy coming from zero-carbon sources. Electricity consumption will climb 11-13 times over present levels in order to create adequate amounts of green hydrogen and fulfill the demands of an expanding electrified asset base.
In summary, it is possible to decarbonize steelmaking, and for the time being, there are several promising alternatives through green hydrogen. In the future, thanks to the expected cost reductions from renewable energies, green steel could become more competitive and available.
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