Russia’s Severstal, one of the world’s biggest integrated steel makers, and oil producer Gazprom Neft have agreed to work together on the use of hydrogen in metallurgical processes and on carbon capture and storage (CCS).

The two companies will also look to develop hydrogen transportation and storage.

“Technologies and projects for the capture and disposal of CO₂ and the production of hydrogen will continue to grow rapidly in the Russian Federation and globally over the next decade, and this will open up a great opportunity for us to capitalise on, and could even provide additional income for our business,” says Severstal CEO Alexander Shevelev.

11th – Severstal ranking among global steel sector emitters

Severstal ranks 11th among global steel companies in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, according to international trade body the World Steel Association. The company has set itself a target to reduce its emissions by 3pc by 2023 from 2020 levels.

Earlier this year, the steelmaker formed a new division to focus on the use of hydrogen and other projects including CCS and offsetting.

The companies may also jointly implement technological decarbonisation projects including altering production processes using hydrocarbon fuel to use methane-hydrogen mixtures instead.

Deployment of hydrogen in the blast-furnace steelmaking process is gaining traction as the low-carbon technology most likely to replace both the temperature and metallurgical reactions achieved by burning coking coal.

“For steel, you either go down the hydrogen route or the carbon capture route. Looking at the current project landscape it looks like most steel companies go down the hydrogen route,” PwC’s global lead on hydrogen, Juergen Peterseim, told Transition Economist in a recent interview.

 

---

Author: Stuart Penson