Feb. 09, 2023

Nippon Steel Corporation

Nippon Steel Corporation (hereinafter "Nippon Steel") decided to implement demonstration experiment for the hydrogen-rich gas injection technique in No. 2 blast furnace of East Nippon Works Kimitsu Area using hydrogen generated in the works. In preparation for the launch of demonstration experiments in January 2026, Nippon Steel will start installing the equipment for demonstrating the hydrogen-rich gas injection technique. The hydrogen reduction demonstration using a large-scale actual blast furnace of 4,500 m³ is the first advanced trial in the world.

In the Nippon Steel Carbon Neutral Vision 2050, announced in March 2021, Nippon Steel aims to achieve carbon neutrality using the following three ultra-innovative breakthrough technologies: (1) reduction with hydrogen in blast furnaces, (2) high-grade steel production in large-sized EAFs, and (3) hydrogen use in direct iron reduction process.
Among them, for the target of "reduction with hydrogen in blast furnaces," since hydrogen reduction is an endothermic reaction, new technologies of controlling the temperature and the reduction reaction inside the blast furnace need to be developed. Nippon Steel has been working on developing these technologies using the COURSE50 test furnace (12 m³) in East Nippon Works Kimitsu Area since 2008. Because Nippon Steel obtained favorable results from this development, it decided to carry out demonstration tests without delay using an operating large-scale blast furnace that is about 400 times larger than the test plant.
In parallel with this development, Nippon Steel is now developing the Super COURSE50 technology, which uses additional hydrogen from outside to further reduce CO2 emissions using the test furnace (12 m³) on the premises of East Nippon Works Kimitsu Area. Along with the demonstration results at the Kimitsu No. 2 blast furnace, Nippon Steel will establish the Super COURSE50 technology (reduction of 50% in CO2 emissions) at large-scale blast furnaces by fiscal 2050.

This demonstration has been selected as one of the Green Innovation Fund projects under the NEDO (New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization). A consortium has been formed to conduct related development projects by the following four organizations: Nippon Steel Corporation, JFE Steel Corporation, Kobe Steel, Ltd., and The Japan
Research and Development Center for Metals.
Nippon Steel will continue to contribute to societal advancement through activities in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the UN ("Affordable clean energy" and "Industry, innovation and infrastructure")
 

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