Hydrogen Can Reduce Emissions for Steel Industry
Colorado based Rocky Mountain Institute has launched a new report highlighting the immediate emissions reduction potential of hydrogen as an alternative to fossil fuels across heavy industry. The report, titled, Hydrogen’s Decarbonization Impact for Industry: Near-term Challenges and Long-term Potential, underlines the positive role hydrogen could play in some industrial processes like steel production and heavy transport, regardless of how that hydrogen is produced. RMI’s new research shows that in many developed economies where power grids have less carbon dioxide intensive generation sources, such as the EU and the US, hydrogen produced through electrolysis can immediately start decarbonising the steel industry.
RMI’s Thomas Kock Bla said “What we found is that there is no reason to wait with transitioning the steel industry from current blast furnace technologies to using hydrogen. If we delay the fuel shift in heavy industry, shipping, trucking or other sectors, by the time there is a supply of green hydrogen at scale, we will already be overshooting a 1.5°C pathway.”
Additional findings from the report include:
For economies with a large portion of coal power in their grid, like India and China, hydrogen can still reduce emissions in the steel industry
Despite a lower CO2-intensity than most power grid-based hydrogen sources, there is no role for steam methane reform in decarbonising industry sectors unless successfully fitted with carbon capture and storage
Because electrolysis production with grid power will be at parity with SMR within the next 5-year period, EU and US policy should exclusively focus on electrolysis until CCS is a viable and scalable technology
The alignment of high-potential for CO2 reduction and the large-scale of off-takers in sectors like steel and shipping, where demand is naturally aggregated in ports, provides a pathway for policymakers to achieve demand at scale. This can significantly accelerate the cost reduction of electrolysis technologies.
Source : H2-View